PLENARY  INSPIRATION 

OF 

THE   SCRIPTURES 

ASSERTED, 

AND  THE 

PRIIVCIPLES    OF    THEIR    COMPOSITIOJV 

INVESTIGATED, 

WITH  A  VIEW  TO    THE  REFUTATION  OF 

ALL  OBJECTIONS  TO  THEIR  DIVINITY. 

IN  SIX  LECTURES, 

(VERY  GREATLY  ENLARGED,) 
DELIVERED    AT    ALBION    HALL,    LONDON    WALL 

WITH  AN  APPENDIX,  ILLUSTRATIVE  AND  CRITICAL 


BY  THE  REV.  S.  NOBLE. 


^ijatv  0  KeXo-of, — "  Ei  ^£v  Stj  OcX^aovccv  a-noKQivca&ai  jioi  u)j  ov  Siaireipoincvu,  iravra  yaf 
ot6a,  aW  0);  £|  laov  TrnvTuiv  nrjooficvij}  tv  av  f;^oi.'' — Ao/f£(  &€  fioi  toioutov  ti  imoirjKCvai, 
oif  £1  rif  Tt)  Aij-UTfco  firiSr!iji7]^as,  evda  oi  fitv  AiyuTriwv  ao(poi,  Kara  ra  narpia  ypafiftaTa, 
voWa  (piXoao(povai  irtpi  twv  vap'  avrois  vcvoy.i(!jitvu>ii  Bctujv,  oi  ic  tStinrat  ^vBov;  rivai  aicov 
oavTts  luv  TOVi  Aoyouf  ovk  CTTiaravTai,  jitya  cir'  avTOi;  ippovovciV  lacro  ■Kavra  to  Aiyvrrriuiv 
tyviancvai,  tou  i&ttarais  avTo)v  fiaBrjTcvcas,  Kai  ^it^Sevi  tii)v  icptiav  (ni///jt|a5,  fiv^'  ono  tivos 
avT<j>i)  ra  AtyuTmuiv  avopprira  fiadiav.  Orig.  corU.  Cels.   L.  i. 


FROM  THE  LONDON  EDITION. 


BOSTON: 

CROCKER  AND  BREWSTER;  BILLIARD,  GRAY  AND  CO,  ;  COTTONS  AND 
BARNARD  ;  AND  BENJAMIN  PERKINS  AND  CO. 

1828. 


BOSTON. 

John  Cotton,  Printer,  184  Washington  Street. 


PREFACE. 


So  numerous  are  the  works  which  have  been  produced  in  vindi- 
cation of  the  divine  authority  of  the  Scriptures  and  of  the  truth  of 
the  Christian  Religion,  so  high  the  reputation  of  many  of  them,  and 
so  unquestionably  great  their  merit,  that  it  might  almost  appear 
like  presumption  in  any  one  again  to  handle  this  argument.  Cer- 
tainly, however,  while  fresh  attacks  upon  the  foundations  of  the 
Christian  Religion  are  continually  being  made,  it  is  necessary  that 
fresh  works  should  be  composed  in  its  defence  ;  even  though  they 
added  no  more  that  is  new  to  the  vindication  of  Revelation,  than 
the  renewed  ranks  of  its  assailants  produce  against  it. 

But  laudable  and  useful  as  the  production  of  works  of  this  class 
is,  he  who  now  solicits  the  attention  of  the  Public  would  never 
have  appeared  as  an  Author,  merely  to  add  to  their  number.  He 
has  long  been  impressed  with  a  serious  conviction,  that  fully  to 
meet  the  difficulties  which  infidel  writers  have  raised,  it  were 
necessary  to  put  the  controversy  on  a  different  ground  from  that 
which  has  been  taken  by  the  most  popular  of  the  Christian  advo- 
cates. He  is  of  opinion,  that  the  ablest  of  their  works  are  more 
adapted  to  silence,  than  to  satisfy,  even  an  ingenuous  inquirer. 
The  former  effect  is  or  ought  to  be  produced,  when  such  circum- 
stances and  considerations  are  alleged  as  cannot  be  accounted  for 
upon  any  other  hypothesis  than  that  which  supposes  the  truth  of  the 
religion  :  but  to  accomplish  the  latter  object,  the  circumstances  in 
the  documents  of  the  religion,  which,  as  the  Sceptic  thinks,  aie 
incompatible  with  the  belief  of  their  divine  origin,  must,  also,  be 
satisfactorily  explained.  This  is  what  few  of  the  modern  advo- 
cates of  Revelation  attempt ;  and  they  who  have  attempted  it  have 


IV  PREFACE. 

seldom  satisfied  even  their  own  friends :  indeed  it  is  now  usual  to 
admit,  that  some  of  the  difficulties  are  such,  as,  in  the  present  state 
of  knowledge  upon  the  subject,  or  by  any  principles  which  have 
yet  been  applied  to  it,  are  inexplicable.  With  this  drawback,  the 
success  with  which  they  have  handled  the  other  part  of  the  argu- 
ment too  often  fails  to  produce  any  deep  conviction  ;  notwith- 
standing they  have  proved,  with  a  completeness  which  leaves  little 
room  for  fair  denial,  that  Christianity,  in  general,  may, — nay,  must 
be  true,  whether  all  the  seeming  difficulties  in  its  records  can  be 
explained  or  not. 

The  perpetual  theme  of  modern  defenders  of  Christianity,  is, 
Miracles  ;  which,  they  shew,  were  certainly  performed  by  Jesus 
Christ  and  the  apostles,  and  which  they  extol  as  the  proper  evi- 
dences of  a  Divine  Revelation.  So  far  as  relates  to  the  latter 
assertion,  the  Deist  is  ready  enough  to  take  them  at  their  word  : 
he  admits  that  miracles  are  proper  evidences,  and  desires,  there- 
fore, to  see  some  performed.  With  the  express  terms  of  this 
request,  the  Christian  advocate  declines  to  comply  ;  but  he  under- 
takes to  prove,  instead  of  it,  that  the  sceptics  of  former  ages  might, 
if  they  pleased,  have  had  that  satisfaction. 

But  do  not  both  parties  here  somewhat  mistake  the  matter  ?  If 
the  evidence  of  miracles  were  so  convincing  as  the  Deistical  writ- 
ers usually  suppose,  how  come  some  of  their  acutest  reasoners  to 
object  to  Christianity  on  that  very  ground, — because  it  records 
them  among  its  documents'?  If,  on  the  other  hand,  that  evidence 
were  so  essential  as  the  Christian  advocates  admit,  how  can  we 
account  for  their  having  ceased  ;  and  ceased,  not  only  in  countries 
where  the  profession  of  Christianity  is  established,  but  even  where 
attempts  are  made  to  sow  in  new  soils  the  seed  of  the  gospel  1 
Ought  not  this  palpable  fact  to  make  the  Christian  hesitate  about 
affirming  so  confidently,  that  miracles  are  so  highly  important  as 
evidences  of  the  truth  of  Revelation  1  Ought  it  not  to  lead  us  to 
conclude,  that,  either  separate  from,  or  in  addition  to,  this  use  of 
miracles,  some  other  cause  was  required  to  their  exhibition  ;  and 
that,  this  ceasing  to  operate,  they  ceased  also  1  Thus  may  we  not 
infer,  that  they  were  performed  under  the  Jewish  dispensation, 
because  they  were  suited  to  the  nature  of  that  dispensation,  and  to 
the  Jewish  character  ;  that  they  were  performed  also  at  the  com- 


PREFACE.  V 

mencement  of  Christianity,  on  account  of  its  original  connexion 
will)  Judaism  ;  because,  likewise,  ilie  Jewisli  dispensation  was  nut 
finally  terminated  till  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  which  put  a 
total  end  to  the  types  and  shadows  of  the  ceremonial  law  ;  and 
because,  in  general,  they  were  suited  to  the  state  of  the  human 
mind  at  that  time  1  but  that  the  cause  of  their  entirely  ceasing 
soon  afterwards,*  was,  because  they  were  not  suited  to  the  nature 
of  the  Christian  dispensation,  nor  to  the  state  of  the  human  mind 
which  was  introduced  with,  or  produced  by,  that  dispensation  1  It 
is  certain  that,  with  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  the  human 
mind  received  a  capacity  of  being  enlightened  by  the  substance  of 
those  things  of  which  the  Jewish  law,  with  the  miracles  wrought 
to  confirm  it,  and  those  also  wrought  among  the  Jews  by  the 
Founder  of  Christianity,  were  types:  and  this  new  state  of  the 
mind  required  evidences  more  congenial  to  its  own  nature. 

Now  this  view  of  the  subject  does  more  for  tlie  support  of 
Christianity,  by  nullifying  the  demand  of  tlie  Deist  fur  present 
miracles,  than  would  be  eflected  in  its  beiialf  by  miracles  them- 
selves, could  they  still  be  produced.  For  certain  it  is  that  mira- 
cles would  not  have  that  convincing  effect  which  both  parties 
ascribe  to  them.  Accordingly,  when  they  were  wrought  by  the  first 
teachers  of  Christianity,  the  conversion  of  opposers  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  been  their  chief  intention  :  on  the  contrary,  where 
opposition  prevailed,  it  is  said  of  the  Saviour  himself,  that  he 
could  not  do  many  mighty  works  because  of  their  unbelief;!  and 
never  did  he  perform  one  when  defied  to  it.  Still,  because  no 
one,  in  those  days,  doubted  the  possibility  of  such  performances, 
the  fame  of  them  spread  abroad.  But  we  well  know  what  excuses 
the  Jews  readily  framed,  for  refusing  to  believe  the  revelation  thus 

*  What  was  the  exact  period  of  their  cessation, — whether,  with  some,  we  sup- 
pose the  power  of  performing  them  to  have  died  with  the  Apostles  ;  or,  with 
others,  to  have  continued  for  one,  two,  or  three  centuries  afterwards  ;  or  even,  with 
the  Roman  Catholics,  to  exist  still  ;  is  of  little  consequence  ;  since  few  will  con- 
tend that,  after  the  Apostles,  it  was  constantly  enjoyed  by  the  teachers  of  Chris- 
tianity, or  was  so  exercised  as  to  add  much  effect  to  their  preaching.  The  phaeno- 
mena  which  may  have  sometimes  attended  private  acts  of  faith,  or,  as  most  will 
prefer  to  say,  (in  regard,  at  least,  to  modern  cases,)  of  imagination,  belong  to  a 
different  order. 

t  Mark  vi.  5 ;   Matt.  xiii.  58. 


VI  PREFACE. 

authenticated  to  them  :  and  are  we  sure  that  even  all  of  those, 
who  now  are  loudest  in  condemning  the  folly,  in  this  respect, 
of  the  Jews,  and  who  take  most  pains  to  prove  the  infallibility  of 
miracles  as  evidences  to  a  Divine  Revelation,  would  accept  any 
doctrine  which  they  now  reject  as  contrary  to  their  reason,  could 
its  advocates  work  a  miracle  for  their  satisfaction  1  Would  they 
not  presently  evince  as  much  ingenuity  as  the  Jews,  in  evading 
the  force  of  the  miraculous  proof,  and  justifying  their  adherence 
to  their  former  opinion  ]  We  may  infer  the  result  from  the  exam- 
ple of  a  celebrated  controversialist,  and  a  strenuous  advocate  for 
the  efficacy  of  miraculous  proof;  who  yet  scrupled  not  to  affirm 
in  one  of  his  publications,  that  were  an  angel  from  heaven  to  an- 
nounce to  him  a  certain  doctrine,  which  many  think  they  plainly 
read  in  the  Scriptures,  he  would  tell  him  in  repl}',  that  he  was  a 
lying  spirit :  If  tiien  a  celestial  visitor  would  have  been  so  rudely 
treated  by  this  mighty  polemic,  who  also  was  an  eminent  philoso- 
pher, what  would  be  the  fate  of  a  human  teacher  of  any  obnoxious 
doctrine  who  should  pretend  to  confirm  it  by  miracles  1  Would 
he  not  be  reviled  as  a  juggler  and  a  cheat  ?  would  not  the  philo- 
sophic science  of  his  antagonists  be  put  in  requisition  to  devise  for 
the  phaenomena  some  plausible  solution  from  natural  causes  ?  and 
would  not  some  secret  method  of  putting  these  causes  into  action 
be  the  utmost  that  would  be  allowed  to  the  operator  ?  The  only 
difference  between  the  philosopliic  and  the  Jewish  opponent 
would  be  this  ;  that  wiiile  the  one  allowed  a  positive  miracle  to 
have  been  wrought,  but  assigned  the  cause  of  it  to  Satanic  energ}', 
the  other  would  deny  any  miracle  at  all,  and  would  ascribe  the 
whole  to  the  energies  of  Nature. 

Let  us  suppose,  however,  the  Deist  to  be  somewhat  more  can- 
did, and  to  be  capable  of  being  satisfied,  at  the  time,  that  a  mira- 
cle hid  been  performed  :  Imagine  him  then  to  appeal  to  a  modern 
inheritor  of  the  Apostolic  gifts,  (if  any  such  existed,)  enumerating 
the  difficulties  with  which,  to  him,  the  documents  of  Revelation 
seem  to  be  attended,  affirming  that  certain  statements  in  the  Sa- 
cred Records  appear  to  hini  repugnant  to  reason  and  replete  with 
contradictions,  and  begging  to  be  informed  how  the  difficulties  may 
be  reconciled,  and  the  record  containing  ihcm  viewed  as  altogether 
tt-orthy  of  a  divine  origin  :    And  suppose  the  Christian  teacher  to 


PREFACE.  VU 

answer,  "  I  will  presently  convince  you  that  the  Record  is  from 
God  ;  but  as  for  the  difficulties  in  it,  you  must  reconcile  them 
yourself  in  the  best  manner  you  can  ;"  and  were  immediateiy  to 
perform  some  notable  miracle  :  How  would  the  Deist  be  affected 
by  it  1  Would  the  wonder  displayed  before  his  eyes  remove  all 
darkness  from  his  mind  1  When  thus  certified  that  the  Revelation 
came  from  God,  would  he  understand  it  any  better  1  If  he  before 
thought  it  unworthy  of  God,  would  he  now  see  the  ground  of  his 
error?  If  it  before  appeared  to  him  to  include  contradictions, 
would  these  immediately  vanish  ?  In  short,  though  silenced,  would 
he  be  satisfied? 

Now  this  appears  nearly  to  resemble  the  situation,  in  which  the 
inquirer,  whose  attention  has  been  directed  to  the  difficulties  which 
have  been  raised  by  Infidel  Objectors,  is  placed  by  the  defences 
of  Christianity  most  in  esteem,  when  they  insist  so  much  upon  the 
miracles  wrought  at  its  origin.  A  compulsory  conviction,  (com- 
pulsory as  far  as  it  goes,)  is  produced,  that  the  religion  thus  evi- 
denced must  be  true:  but  the  question  as  to  how  it  can  be  true,  is 
left  just  where  it  was  before  :  and  yet  till  this  also  be  seen  ;  till 
the  question  of  reason  be  as  satisfactorily  answered  as  the  question 
of  fact  ;  no  conviction  can  penetrate  very  deep.  The  miracles 
wrought  by  the  first  promulgators  of  Christianity,  are  certainly 
brought  again,  by  the  labours  of  modern  advocates,  almost  before 
our  senses  ;  but.  happily,  not  quite  :  for  if  they  were,  the  efl^ect 
would  be,  to  deprive  the  mind  of  that  superior  freedoni  which 
Christianity,  among  its  other  benefits,  was  introduced  to  restore, 
and  not  to  open  the  understanding,  but  to  close  it.  A  sceptic  thus 
convinced  that  the  Scriptures  have  the  sanction  of  divine  authority, 
would  be  placed  in  the  situation  of  an  Englishman  and  a  Protest- 
ant in  such  a  country  as  Spain :  in  his  heart  he  might  think  the 
government  a  tyranny  and  the  religion  priestcraft;  but  being  quite 
satisfied  of  their  power,  the  fear  of  the  Inquisition  might  compel 
him  to  hold  his  tongue.  It  is  not  congenial  to  the  nature  of  the 
human  mind  to  acquiesce  in  implicit  faith  contrary  to  the  dictates 
of  its  own  understanding  :  and  if  this  is  not  congenial  to  the  na- 
ture of  the  human  mind  in  general,  assuredly  it  is  peculiarly  re- 
pugnant to  it  at  the  present  day,  when  so  astonishing  a  spirit  of 
inquiry   has  so  universally  gone   abroad.     The  sceptic  will  now 


Vm  PREFACE. 

ask,  "  Wliile  the  phsenomena  of  nature  are  in  every  direction  be- 
coming intelligible,  and  we  are  admitted  to  see  the  rationale — 
the  philosophy,  of  every  other  science,  is  Theology  for  ever  to 
present  nothing  but  dogmas,  for  which  faith  is  demanded  while 
understanding  is  denied?  Will  she,  alone,  never  answer  the 
request  for  her  reasons,  but  by  alleging  her  miracles?" 

Let  not,  however,  these  remarks  be  misunderstood.  Nothing  is 
further  from  the  intention  of  the  writer,  than  to  depreciate  the 
merit,  or  undervalue  the  utility,  of  the  vindications  of  Revelation 
here  alluded  to  :  all  that  is  meant  to  be  insinuated  is,  that  they 
require  something  in  addition  to  render  them  fully  efficient  to  their 
object.  If,  while  the  Deist  is  convinced  by  them  that  miracles 
were  actually  wrought  at  the  commencement  of  Christianity,  and 
that  Revealed  Religion  had  a  divine  origin,  he  is  induced,  in  con- 
sequence, to  suspect  that  the  circumstances  in  its  documents  which 
he  regards  as  revolting  to  reason  only  appear  so  because  they  are 
not  understood:  the  conviction  wrought  in  him  may  be  lasting, 
and  may  finally  be  exalted  into  an  enlightened  faith.  But  to  se- 
cure this  result,  it  surely  is  necessary  to  lead  hira,  as  well  as  to 
drive  him  ; — to  resolve  his  doubts  and  remove  his  difficultie?,  as 
well  as  to  assure  him,  that  the  religion  is  true  in  spite  of  them  all. 

Is  has  long,  then,  been  the  conviction  of  the  writer  of  these 
pages,  that  such  a  view  of  the  Volume  of  Revelation  might  be  pre- 
sented as  should  be  adequate  to  this  object :  but  he  little  thought 
that  ever  he  should  venture  to  attempt  it  himself.  The  present 
work  is  entirely  the  product  of  circumstances,  and  i(s  publication 
is  what  they  who  do  not  acknowledge  a  Providence  in  every 
thing,  would  call  purely  accidental. 

The  public  mind  having  for  some  time  past  had  the  question 
respecting  the  divinity  of  the  Christian  Oracles  thrust  before  it  in 
every  possible  shape,  it  occurred  to  the  Author,  during  the  last 
winter,  that  some  benefit  might  be  communicated, at  least  to  a  ievf, 
by  the  delivery  of  some  Lectures,  in  a  public  Lecture-room,  upon 
the  subject.  The  thought  and  its  execution  were  equally  sudden; 
so  much  so,  that  the  chief  part  of  each  Lecture  was  composed, 
amid  other  engagements,  and,  at  first,  without  the  most  remote 
view  to  any  other  mode  of  publication,  in  the  week  which  pre- 
ceded its   delivery.     The  approbation  with  which  the  effort  was 


PRLFACE.  It 

lecoived,  by  a  numerous  and  respectable  auditory,  far  exceeded 
the  Author's  most  sanguine  expectations.  From  the  comiuence- 
uient,  urgent  solicitations  were  made  to  him  to  allow  the  Lectures 
to  be  [)rinted  ;  and  when,  towards  the  conclusion,  he  announced 
his  detern)ination  to  comply  with  the  request,  it  was  received  with 
the  strongest  expressions  of  satisfaction.  This  statement  is  made 
simply  from  a  sentiment  of  gratitude,  and  to  account  for  the  ap- 
pearance and  form  of  the  work;  but  without  any  idea  on  the  part 
of  t!ie  Author,  that  the  decision  of  his  auditory  will  in  the  slightest 
degree  influence,  or  even  that  it  can  afford  any  means  for  antici- 
pating, the  decision  of  the  public  at  hirge,  before  whose  tribunal 
he  has  thus  been  encouraged  to  venture.  It  is  also  necessary  to 
state,  further,  that  when  he  consented  to  publish  the  Lectures,  he 
really  was  not  aware  of  what  he  had  undertaken.  So  hastily  had 
they  been  prepared,  that,  when  he  had  finished  reading  them,  he 
hardly  knew  of  what  they  consisted.  He  was  well  apprised  that 
much  revision  would  be  necessary,  and  that  many  important  things 
had  been  cursorily  passed  over,  which  must  be  more  distinctly 
treated  :  but  he  fully  expected  that  the  whole  would  have  been 
comprised  in  less  than  three  hundred  pages.  The  work  was  put 
immediately  to  the  press,  and  the  first  Lecture  was  printed  without 
any  very  considerable  alterations  from  the  original  copy:  the  fivo 
others,  however,  have  been  enlarged,  upon  an  average,  to  three 
times  their  original  extent ;  and  a  copious  Appendix  has  also  been 
added.*  Altogether,  the  book  has  assumed  dimensions  much  be- 
yond what  was  wished  ;  but  for  this  it  is  hoped,  the  importance  of 
the  subject  will  be  a  sufficient  apology.  As  neither  the  whole  of 
the  work,  nor  any  large  portion  of  it,  was  ever  under  the  Author's 
eye  together,  till  it  was  irrevocably  fixed  in  print,  he  is  aware  that 
it  may  afford  abundant  occasion  for  the  severity  of  criticism :  he 
would  wish  therefore  that  it  might  be  judged  by  its  matter  and  de- 
sign, rather  than  its  manner  and  execution.  If  the  former  merit 
condemnation,  let   condemnation   be  awarded  ;  but  for  the  latter 

*  To  the  last  Article  of  the  Appendix, — the  Remarks  upon  the  late  excellent 
Bampton  Lectures  by  the  late  Rev.  Mr.  Conjbeare, — no  reference  occurs  in  the 
Work  itself,  the  Author  not  having  read  them  till  that  part  of  his  Work  was  print- 
ed in  which  the  notice  of  them  would  properly  have  come  :  he  takes  the  opportuni. 
ty,  therefor*,  of  making  the  reference  here. 

b 


X  PREFACE. 

he  craves  some  indulgence.  The  mode  of  its  origin  necessarily 
threw  the  work  into  a  popular  form,  wliich  it  still  retains,  espe- 
cially in  the  first  Lecture  :  but  the  Author  has  endeavoured  to 
render  it  not  unworthy  the  attention  of  the  lover  of  studious  in- 
quiry and  of  biblical  literature,  while  he  has  mainly  endeavciured 
to  assist  the  pursuit  of  the  earnest  investigator  of  revealed  truth. 
The  question  respecting  the  divinity  of  the  professed  Oracles  of 
Revelation,  is  equally  momentous  to  the  simple  and  to  the  sage  ; 
and  this,  he  hopes,  will  be  accepted  as  an  apology  by  the  learned, 
for  his  having  treated  it  in  a  concio  ad  popiilum. 


CO:PfTENTS. 


LECTURE  I.— Page  1  to  SI. 

Introductory.     Infidel  Objections  stated. 

Prevalence  of  Infidel  sentiments,  and  of  an  increasing  tendency  to  think 
meanly  of  the  Scriptures.  Their  Plenary  Inspiration  generally  relinqniHied. 
Design  of  these  Lectures  stated.  I.  Necessity  of  Revelation.  II.  Tiie  cha- 
racter which  must  belong  to  a  Composition  which  has  God  for  its  Author. 
Inquiry  proposed :  Do  the  books  called  the  Holy  Scriptures  come  up  to  this 
character  .'  Answered  in  the  affirmative  by  the  Lecturer,  but  the  Proof  re- 
served for  the  subsequent  Lectures.  Answered  in  the  negative  by  the  Deist, 
on  the  alleged  grounds,  that  the  books  in  question  contain  some  Statements 
which  are  contradictory  to  each  other,  some  that  are  at  variance  with  Sci- 
ence and  Reason,  and  some  which  are  repugnant  to  Morality ;  and  that,  be- 
side these  positive  Objections,  the  greater  part  of  them  is  occupied  with  In- 
different and  Insignificant  Matters.  Examples.  General  Reply  :  That  all 
Buch  Objections  arise  from  taking  a  merely  Superficial  View  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  from  an  Ignorance  of  their  True  Nature  ;  and  that  they  may  be 
retorted,  so  as  to  assist  in  proving  what  the  True  Nature  of  the  Scriptures  ia. 
III.  Appeal  to  the  Reader,  on  the  ill  consequences  of  Infidelity. 

LECTURE  IL— Page  32  to  83. 

The  True  Nature  of  the  Scriptures  Explained. 

Design  with  which  the  Scriptures  were  given,  and  the  Nature  of  their  Com- 
position, stated  for  proof  I,  That  the  title  '•  the  Word  of  God,"  and  the 
Plenary  Inspiration  which  that  title  implies,  are  claimed  by  the  Scriptures 
1.  By  Moses  and  the  Prophets  for  their  respective  Writings.  2.  The  claim 
allowed  them,  and  their  absolute  Infallibility  asserted,  by  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  3.  Their  Plenary  Inspiration  insisted  on  by  the  Apostles.  4.  And 
recognised,  till  lately,  by  the  majority  of  Biblical  Critics.  II.  Proofs,  from 
rational  and  philosophical  grounds,  that  a  Composition  which  is  really  "  the 
Word  of  God,"  must  contain  stores  of  wisdom  in  its  bosom  independently 
of  any  thing  that  appears  on  the  surface.  III.  That  the  Composition  re- 
ceived as  the  Word  of  God,  continually  assures  us  that  it  is  inwardly  re- 
plenished with  such  wisdom.  1.  This  intimated  by  the  writers  of  the  Old 
Testament :  2.  Expressly  declared  b)  the  Lord  Jecus  Christ;  3;  And  by  hit 


XU  CONTENTS. 

Apostles:  4.  Generally  believed  by  the  Christian  Church,  (1.)  for  many 
ages,  from  the  Apostles  downwards,  (2.)  and  still  recognised  by  the  best  inter- 
preters. IV.  But  this  great  truth  having  been  abused,  that  endeavours  have 
been  made,  during  the  last  two  or  three  Centuries,  to  restrict  the  meaning  of 
the  Scriptures  to  their  Literal  Sense  alone.  Admitted,  that  all  Controver- 
sies are  to  be  decided,  and  Points  of  Faith  established,  by  the  Literal  Sense : 
But  that  the  objection  against  a  further  sense  would  fall  to  the  ground,  could 
it  be  shewn,  that  the  Scriptures  are  written  throughout  according  to  an  im- 
mutable Law  or  Rule,  a  knowledge  of  which  would,  in  explaining  them, 
substitute  certainty  for  conjecture,  and  cut  off  the  sources  of  vague  interpre- 
tation. 

LECTURE  III.— Page  84  to  152. 

The  Laic  or  Rule  Explained  according   to  which  the  Scriptures 
are  icritten. 

Preliminary  Remark,  on  the  Reasons  why  the  Scriptures  are  not  written  in 
plainer  Language.  Short  Recapitulation.  L  A  Universal  Rule  of  Interpre- 
tation afforded  in  the  Mutual  Relation,  which  exists  by  creation,  between 
things  Natural  or  Material,  Spiritual  or  Moral,  and  Divine.  11.  The  Nature 
of  this  Relation  considered.  1.  The  whole  Universe  an  Outbirth  from  the 
Deity,  whence  it  bears,  in  all  its  parts,  an  immutable  relation  to  the  attri- 
butes which  belong  to  the  Divine  Essence.  2.  That  on  all  things  belonging 
to  the  Moral,  Intellectual,  and  Spiritual  Worlds,  the  Divine  Creator  has 
thus  first  stamped  a  certain  Image  of  himself  3.  And  that  he  has  done  the 
same,  though  under  a  totally  different  form,  on  all  the  objects  of  Outward 
and  Material  Nature  :  (1.)  In  the  chief  organs  and  parts  of  the  Human 
Frame,  and  in  the  arrangement  of  Pairs  observable  through  ail  Nature: 
(2.)  In  the  imitation  of  the  Human  Form  which  reigns  throughout  the 
Animal  Kingdom,  and,  by  Analogous  parts  and  Functions,  in  the  Vegetable 
and  Mineral  Kingdoms  also  :  (3.)  In  what  may  be  called  the  Moral  Quali- 
ties of  Animals :  (4.)  Digression  on  the  origin  of  Malignant  Qualities  in 
Animals  and  the  other  productions  of  Nature.  (5.)  The  subject  resumed, 
and  instanced  in  the  Essential  Properties  of  Vegetables  and  Minerals.  4. 
Thus  that  all  things  in  Nature,  being  Outward  Productions  from  Inward  Es- 
sences, are  Natural,  Sensible,  and  Material  Types  of  Moral,  Intellectual,  and 
Spiritual  Antitypes,  and,  finally,  of  their  Prototypes  in  God.  III.  That, 
were  the  Relation  between  these  different  orders  of  Existences  fully  under- 
stood, a  Style  of  Writing  miglit  be  constructed,  in  which,  while  none  but 
Natural  Images  were  used,  purely  Intellectual  Ideas  should  be  most  fully 
expressed. — 1.  That  this  is  ih  a  great  measure  intuitively  perceived  by  all 
Mankind.  (1.)  Hence  oin-  conclusions  from  the  Expression  of  the  Counte- 
nance to  the  Emotions  of  the  Mind.  (2.)  And  hence  the  origin  of  many 
Forms  of  Speech  in  common  use.  (3.)  If  such  a  relation  of  Analogy  be- 
tween !\Ioral  or  Spiritual  and  Material  or  IVatural  objecls  exists  in  a  great 
number  of  cases,  it  must  bo  universal.     2.  Palpable  instances  of  the  occur- 


CONTENTS.  XIII 

rcnce  of  such  Forms  of  Speecli  in  tlio  Holy  Word.  IV.  Tliat  in  ancient 
times  this  constant  Relation  between  things  Natural,  Moral  or  Spiritual,  and 
Divine,  was  extensively  understood.  1.  Proved  from  intimations  in  the 
Historical  Parts  of  Scripture.  2.  Confirmatory  remarks,  drawn  from  the 
Mythological  Fables  of  the  Greeks  and  Asiatics,  and  the  Hieroglyphics  of 
Egypt,  some  of  which  are  explained.  V.  That  in  this  Relation,  then,  is  to  be 
found  the  Law  or  Rule  according  to  which  the  Scriptures  are  written,  and 
that  a  knowledge  of  it  will  afiord  the  Key  by  which  their  "  dark  sayings" 
must  be  deciphered. — Conclusion  :  That  the  Doctrine  of  Annlogies  is  not 
liable  to  the  reproach  cither  of  Fancifulness  or  of  Novelty,  and  is  worthy 
the  attention  of  every  fi-iend  of  Revelation  and  Piety,  and  of  Reason  and 
Knowledge. 

LECTURE  IV.— Page  153  to  263. 

Proofs  and  Illustrations,  evincing  that  the  Scriptures  are  writ- 
ten according  to  the  Law  or  Ride  developed  in  the  last  Ijccturc. 

I.  Of  the  Style  proper  to  a  Divine  Composition.  Such  a  Style  allbrded  by 
the  Relation  of  Analogy  between  Natural  Things  and  Spiritual,  as  explain- 
ed in  the  last  Lecture.  IL  That  if  the  Scriptmes  are  written  by  a  Plenary 
Divine  Inspiration,  they  imist  be  composed  in  this  Style.  1.  The  Word  of 
God  must  be  governed  by  tlie  same  General  Law  as  his  Works  ;  and  this  is 
the  Law  ofthe  above  Analogy.  (1.)  That  when  the  Divine  Speech  or  the  Di- 
vine Word,  which  is  the  same  thing  as  the  Divine  Truth,  emanates  from  the 
bosom  of  Deity  into  the  circumference  of  Creation,  or  into  the  world  of  Na- 
ture, it  there  clothes  itself  with  Images  taken  from  that  world,  and  that  it 
cannot  otherwise  be  presented  to  Mankind  :  (2.)  But  it  thus  is  presented 
with  a  fulness  which  no  other  kind  of  Language  cauld  afford  :  2.  Variety 
of  Phraseology  in  the  different  Inspired  Penmen,  not  inconsistent  with  Ver- 
bal Inspiration.  3.  The  difference  between  Plenary  and  Personal  Inspira- 
tion ;  and  that  tlie  former  is  necessarily  occasional,  and  not  permanently  at- 
tendant on  certain  Persons.  III.  That  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  the  Divine 
Truth  thus  brought  into  a  natural  form  ;  and  that  therefore  their  Interior 
Meaning  can  only  be  understood  by  an  application  to  them  of  tlie  Law 
which  governs  the  Relation  between  Natural  Objects  and  Spiritual  and  Di- 
vine Essences.  IV.  Applicability  of  the  Rule  to  the  Prophecies  of  the  Di- 
vine Word.  The  View  proposed  supplies  exactly  what,  in  other  Systems, 
was  felt  to  be  wanting.  1.  Sentiments  of  Biblical  Critics  on  the  Double 
Sense  of  Prophecy.  Necessity  of  making  the  System  uniform.  2.  Rule  of 
Analogical  Interpretation  adopted  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton  and  Bi.<liop  War- 
burton.  .3.  Defects  of  their  Rule,  and  the  necessity  of  extending  it  further. 
V.  Examples  of  the  Light  wliich  results  from  the  application  of  the  Rule  of 
Analogy  between  Natural  Things  :ind  Spiritual  to  the  Prnpherics.  1. 
EzekieTs  Prophecy  of  a  great  Sacrifice  upon  ihe  mountains  of  I^rrirl.  (Ezek. 
xxxix.  17  to  20.)  (1.)  Genernl  I'emarks  on  the  Class  of  Prophecies  \\\\'k\\ 
can  be  intended  for  Spiritu.d  ruHiinicnt  ojily.     (2.)  Evidence  thai  this  Pre- 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

diction  belongs  to  that  Class.  (3.)  General  Signification  of  Judaea  and  the 
«iirrounding  Countries.  (4.)  The  Spiritual  Analogy  of  the  relations  of  Placo 
deduced.  (5.)  The  Signification  of  the  Land  of  Gog  and  Magog  as  result- 
ing from  this  Analogy,  and  of  an  Invasion  thence  of  the  Land  of  Judaea. 
(6.)  The  light  thrown  by  this  Prophecy  upon  that  portion  of  the  Prophetic 
Word  which  treats  in  its  Letter  of  particular  Countries  and  Nations.  (7.) 
The  Import,  in  the  Language  of  Analogy,  of  the  Address  to  the  Fowls  and 
Beasts.  2.  The  Lord's  Prophecy  of  his  Second  Coming  in  the  Clouds  of 
Heaven,  (Matt.  xxiv.  29,  30.)  (1.)  The  former  part  of  this  Chapter  a  re- 
markable instance  of  that  Class  of  Prophecies  which  admits  a  Literal  Fulfil- 
ment :  yet  the  Spiritual  Fulfilment  the  principal  thing  intended.  (2.)  The 
impossibility  of  connecting  the  former  part  of  the  Prophecy  with  the  latter 
by  the  Literal  Sense  alone,  and  the  Inconsistencies  incurred  by  Commenta- 
tors in  the  attempt.  (3.)  Inquiry  instituted  into  the  specific  Signification  of 
the  Coming  of  the  Son  of  man  in  the  Clouds.  (4.)  The  terms  must  have  a 
determinate  meaning.  (5.)  Tiie  Import  of  the  phrase,  "  Son  of  man,"  as 
used  in  Scripture.  (6.)  The  Ground  of  that  Import  in  Analogy.  (7.)  Sig- 
nification of  the  Clouds  when  mentioned  in  Scripture  ;  with  the  Analogical 
Reason  for  it.  (8.)  The  Meaning  of  the  Prophecy  thus  rendered  evident. 
3.  John's  Vision  of  Spiritual  Babylon,  (Rev.  xvii.  3  to  G.)  (1.)  Signification 
of  Babylon  in  Scripture,  as  discoverable  fi-om  the  circumstances  predicated 
respecting  it :  (2.)  Of  the  circumstances  predicated  of  Babylon  personi- 
fied.— Conclusion  :  That  the  Prophetic  Parts  of  Scripture  are  composed 
in  the  Divine  Style  of  Writing,  and  tiiat,  thus  far,  the  claims  of  the 
Scriptures  to  Plenary  Divine  Inspiration  are  established. 

LECTURE  v.— Page  264  to  377. 

Proofs  and  Illustrations  contimied. 

The  Argument,  respecting  the  proof  of  the  Plenary  Inspiration  of  the  Scrip- 
tures by  their  Style,  more  distinctly  stated.  I.  Applicability  of  the  Law 
which  governs  the  Relation  between  Natural  Objects  and  Spiritual  and  Di- 
vine Essences,  or  of  the  Science  of  Analogies,  as  a  Rule  tor  the  Interpreta- 
tion of  the  Historical  Parts  of  the  Divine  Word.  1.  Sentiments  of  Biblical 
Critics,  and  admissions  of  Expositors,  on  the  Typical  Nature  of  the  Scripture 
Historv  :  (1.)  In  regard  to  the  Miracles  ;  (2.)  And  other  Circumstances. 
2.  Necessity  of  making  the  System  uniform.  li.  Just  Ideas  of  the  nature 
and  uses  of  the  Isrnclitisli  Dispensation  necessary  to  the  right  apprehension 
of  the  Israclitish  History.  1.  The  selection  of  the  Israelites  as  a  peculiar 
peoide,  not  intended  so  much  for  their  own  benefit  as  for  the  general  bene- 
fit of  mankind.  2.  It  promoted  this  object ;  (L)  By  tlieir  filling  a  station 
indispensable  in  the  Divine  Economy,  during  a  period  in  which  a  higher  or 
more  extensive  Dispensation  could  not  have  been  received,  and  in  supply- 
ing the  Preparation  without  which  such  superior  Dispensation  could  never 
h*!  given  at  all :  (2.)  By  furnishing  the  means  by  which  the  Holy  Word 
fnight  be  written  :   which  ihry  did  by  rf.presc.vting   divine  things  under  Ex- 


CONTENTS.  XT 

ternal  Symbols  and  Natural  Occurreiicos  ;  for  which  office  tliey  were  pecu- 
liarly suited  by  their  distinguishing  Temper  and  Genius.  111.  Examples  of 
the  Light  which  results  from  the  application  of  the  Rule  of  Analogy  between 
Natural  things  and  Spiritual  to  the  Scripture  Histories.  1.  The  Miraculous 
Capture  of  Jericho  :  (Josh,  vi.)  (1.)  The  Acts  of  Violence  performed  by 
the  Israelites,  and  some  of  the  Enactments  of  the  Law,  merely  permitted  to 
them  •'  because  of  the  hardness  of  their  hearts,"  and  because  they  could  be 
so  overruled  as  to  attbrd  exact  Symbolic  Representations  of  the  Spiritual 
and  Heavenly  things  which  are  the  real  objects  of  all  the  Divine  Command- 
ments. (2.)  The  Spiritual  Import  of  the  Command  to  destroy  the  Canaan- 
ites  ;  (3.)  Of  the  Circumstances  attending  the  Capture  of  Jericho.  2.  Jeph- 
thah  and  his  vow  -.  (Judges  xi.)  Remarks  on  the  literal  history.  (1.)  Ne- 
cessity for  an  appearance,  on  the  face  of  the  Narrative,  as  if  the  Sacrifice 
took  place.  (2.)  The  Origin  of  Human  Sacrifices  :  (3.)  And  of  Sacrificial 
Worship  in  general ;  with  its  Ground  in,  and  Signification  by,  the  Science 
of  Analogies.  (4.^*  The  Signification  of  an  apparent,  and  of  the  actual 
Sacrifice  of  a  Child.  (5.)t  The  principles  applied  to  the  case  of  Jephthah'a 
Vow,  and  shewn  to  explain,  most  satisfactorily,  the  statements  of  the  Nar- 
rative. 3.  The  Combat  of  David  and  Goliath.  (ISam.xvii.)  4.  The  cir- 
cumstances attending  the  Crucifixion  of  Jesus  Christ.  IV.  Examples  of  the 
Light  which  results  from  the  application  of  the  Rule  to  the  Ceremonial  Pre- 
cepts of  the  Divine  Word.  1.  The  Sacrifices  in  general :  2.  The  Prohibi- 
tion of  various  kinds  of  meats  :  (Lev.  xi.)  3.  The  Law  of  the  Nazarite  : 
(Numb,  vi.)  4.  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper;  which  were  instituted  un- 
der the  Christian  Dispensation  as  an  Epitome  of  the  whole  Ceremonial 
Law. — Inference  from  the  whole.  V.  Additional  Argument,  1.  Proposed 
and  Illustrated  :  A  false  Rule  of  Interpretation  could  not  draw  from  the 
Scriptures  a  coherent  sense  throughout :  But  the  Doctrine  of  Analogies  does 
this  :  Wherefore  it  must  bo  the  true  Rule  of  Interpretation,  and  the  Scrip- 
tures must  be  written  according  to  it.  2.  Tlic  Argument  afiorded  by  the 
fact.  That  a  number  of  Writers,  living  at  distant  periods,  produced  Compo- 
sitions all  uniformly  following  this  Law. — Inference  repeated, — That  the 
Style  in  which  the  Scriptures  are  composed  is  the  truly  Divine  Style  of 
Writing;  and  that  nothing  shortof  Plenary  Divine  Inspiration  could  be  ade- 
quate to  their  production.  Thus  they  are  truly  denominated  the  Word 
OF  God. 

LECTURE  VI.— Page  378  to  439. 

The  whole  Fabric  of  Infidel  Objections  fhewn  to  he  without 
Foundation. 

I.  General  View  of  the  System  and  Arguments  of  the  preceding  Lectures  :  1. 
The  first  stage  of  the  Argument :     2.  The  second  :     3.  The  third  :  Impor- 


•  Erroneously  marked  in  the  place  referred  to,  (3.) 
t  Erroneously  marked  (4.) 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

lant  additional  Testimony :  4.  The  last.  II.  The  four  Classes  of  Infidel 
Objections  stated  in  the  first  Lecture  resumed,  and  examined  by  the  View 
which  has  been  developed  of  the  nature  of  the  Holy  Word,  and  of  the 
means  of  deciphering  its  true  Signification.  1.  Imputed  Inconsistencies  with 
Reason  and  Science  considered  :  (1.)  Style  of  Writing  in  the  first  part  of 
the  book  of  Genesis.  (2.)  Genius  of  Mankind  in  the  Primeval  Ages.  (3.) 
Coincidences  between  the  Narratives  of  this  part  of  Scripture  and  ancient 
Traditions. — Conclusion  :  That  the  Word  of  God  pronounces  no  dictum 
upon  the  questions  agitated  by  Science.  2.  Imputed  Contradictions  consi- 
dered. (1.)  The  case  of  the  water  turned  into  blood  bj^  the  Magicians  of 
^SyP'^-  (2-)  Why  were  four  Gospels  written  .'  (3.)  Theory  of  their  varia- 
tions proposed.  (4.)  Illustrated  by  the  different  accounts  of  the  treatment 
and  behaviour  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  at  the  Crucifixion  :  (5.)  By  the  two 
modes  of  representing  the  conduct  of  the  Thieves.  (6.)  The  two  accounts 
of  the  Tennrptation  in  the  Wilderness.  (7.)  Matthew's  naming  Jeremiah 
instead  of  Zechariah  a  necessary  Result  of  his  Inspiration. — Conclusion  : 
That  the  varying  statements  of  the  Sacred  Writers,  fairly  interpreted,  actu- 
ally become  evidences  of  their  Inspiration.  3.  Imputed  Violations  of  Mo- 
rality considered.  (L)  That  they  only  evince  the  Representative  Charactei 
of  the  Israelitish  Dispensation.  (2.)  David  not  the  Pattern  of  a  saint,  but 
the  Type  of  one.  4.  Imputed  Insignificance  considered.  General  Reply 
confirmed  ; — That  all  such  Objections  arise  from  taking  a  merely  superficial 
view  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and  from  an  utter  Ignorance  of  their  true 
Nature.  III.  Address  to  Christians  on  the  Necessity  of  taking  higher 
ground  in  their  Controversy  with  Deists.  IV.  Address  to  Deists,  on  the  in- 
ternal causes  of  Scepticism.     Conclusion. 

APPENDIX. 

Page 

No.  I.  Proofs  of  the   Symbolic  Character  of  the  Writings  of  the 

Old  Testament  afforded  by  the  Revelation  of  John  -  i 

No.  II.  An  Attempt  to  discriminate  between  the  Books  of  Plenarj' 
Inspiration  contained  in  the  Bible,  and  those  written  by 
the  Inspiration  generally  assigned  to  the  whole        -         -       viii 

No.  III.  The  Great  Objects  and  Pheenomena  of  the  Mundane  System 
considered,  as  they  are  referred  to  in  the  Language  of 
Prophecy,  and  of  the  Scriptures  in  general     -         -         -      xxx 

No.  IV.  Tiie  Signification  of  the  Clouds,  when  mentioned  in  Scrip- 
ture, further  illustrated xxxviii 

No.  V.         Illustrations  of  the  Jewish  Character  ;  evincing  its  Aptitude 

for  a  Dispensation  consisting  chiefly  in  External  Rites  xlvi 

No.  VI.       Critical  Examination  of  Jephthah's  Vow     -         -         -         -  Hi 

No.  VII.     Arguments  for  the  liiteral  Interpretation  of  the  first  part  of 

Genesis  considered         ....-,.         \x 

No.  VIII.  Remarks  on  the  Recent  Volume  of  Bampton  Lectures,  by 
the  late  Rev.  J.  J.  Conybeare,  M.A. ;  and  on  the  Support 
which  it  affords  to  the  main  Principle  of  the  present  Work        Ixi 


LECTURE  I. 


INTRODUCTORY.       INFIDEL    OBJECTIONS    STATED. 

Prevalence  of  infidel  sentiments,  and  of  an  increasing  tendency 
to  think  meanly  of  the  Scriptures. —  Their  Plenary  Inspira- 
tion generally  relinquished. — Design  of  these  Lectures  stated. 
— JSuessity  of  Revelation. —  The  character  that  must  belong 
to  a  Composition  which  has  God  for  its  Author. — Inquiry 
proposed  :  Do  the  books  called  the  Holy  Scriptures  come  up  to 
this  character  ? — Answered  in  the  affirmative  by  the  Lecturer j 
but  the  proof  reserved  for  the  subsequent  Lectures  : — Answered 
in  the  negative  by  the  Deist,  on  the  alleged  grounds,  that  the 
books  in  question  contain  statements  that  are  contradictory  to 
each  other,  some  that  are  at  variance  icith  science  and  reason, 
and  some  that  are  repugnant  to  morality  ;  and  that,  beside 
these  positive  objections,  the  greater  part  of  them  is  occupied 
with  indifferent  and  insignificant  matters. —  General  reply,  that 
all  such  objections  arise  from  taking  a  merely  superficial 
view  of  the  Scriptures,  and  from  an  ignorance  of  their  true 
nature  ;  and  that  they  may  be  retorted  so  as  to  assist  in  prov- 
ing what  the  true  nature  of  the  Scriptures  is. — Appeal  to  the 
reader,  on  the  ill  consequences  of  infidelity. 


There  is  a  prediction  in  the  second  Epistle  of  Peter,* 
which  can  hardly  fail  to  present  itself  to  the  thoughts  of 
every  believer   in   Divine   Revelation,   when   he    reflects 


Ch.  iii.  ver.  3. 


2  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OP 

upon  the  deluge  of  infidelity,  which,  in  the  present  times, 
is  seen  pouring  upon  the  world.  The  apostle  says,  "  there 
shall  come  in  the  last  days  scoffers,  walking  after  tlieir 
own  lusts  :"  upon  which  it  has  been  justly  remarked  by 
advocates  of  Christianity,  that  the  circumstance  of  the 
wide  diffusion  of  hostility  to  Revelation  which  it  is  the 
lot  of  the  present  generation  to  witness,  itself  affords  a  tes- 
timony of  the  trutia  of  tlie  Scriptures  ;  since  it  is  a  fulfil- 
ment of  a  prophecy  which  the  Scriptures  contain.  Another 
divine  prediction  of  Holy  Writ,  will  also  frequently  occur 
to  the  recollection  of  him  who  contemplates  this  state  of 
things  :  Jesus  Christ  says,  "  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass 
away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away."*  It  is  now 
generally  admitted  by  expositors  of  Scripture,  that  the  so 
often  occurring  prophetical  figure  of  the  passing  away  of 
heaven  and  earth,  denotes  the  overturning  of  ecclesiastical 
and  civil  establishments.  Of  these  occurrences  the  present 
generation  has  seen  more  extensive  examples  than  have 
before  been  witnessed  since  the  first  establishment  of 
Christianity  ;  and  were  it  not  for  the  divine  assurance  that 
the  words  of  Jesus  Christ  shall  not  pass  away, — (and  these 
words,  in  fact,  include  the  whole  of  the  Word  of  God,  since 
we  are  assured  by  Peter  that  the  spirit  which  inspired  the 
old  prophets  was  the  spirit  of  Christ  ;f — were  it  not  for  this 
divine  assurance,)  we  might  almost  expect,  when  we  ob- 
serve the  activity  with  which  deistical  publications  are  cir- 
culated, and  the  avidity  with  which,  in  too  many  cases, 
their  poison  is  imbibed,  that,  amongst  the  moral  and  civil 
revolutions  of  which  the  present  is  so  remarkable  an  era, 
all  belief  in  divine  revelation  would  be  abolished  from  the 
human  mind  ;  the  awful  consequences  of  which  would  be, 
to  place  the  moral  world  in  a  situation  precisely  similar  to 
that  in  which  the  world  of  nature  would  stand,  were  the 
sun  to  be  abolished  from  the  firmament.     In  a  neighbour- 

*  Matt.  xxiv.  35.  t  1  Ep.  i.  11. 


THE    SCRIPTURES   ASSERTED,    &C.  $ 

ino-  nation  we  actually  have  seen  this  revolution  tempora- 
rily effected.  Profligacy  of  manners  and  atheistical  writ- 
ings had  together  destroyed,  in  a  great  portion  of  the  peo- 
ple, all  reverence  for  revealed  truth  :  persons  of  this  class 
possessed  themselves  of  the  government  ;  and  decrees  were 
issued  proclaiming  Christianity  abolished,  and  disowning 
any  Divinity  but  the  Divinity  of  reason.  The  horrors 
that  ensued,  by  exciting  a  re-action,  prepared  indeed  the 
way  for  re-establishing  the  profession  of  Christianity  ;  but 
as  this  is  there  disguised  among  the  mummeries  of  Popery, 
it  is  not  likely,  thougli  now  favoured  by  the  government, 
to  make  many  but  political  conversions  :  and  the  disre- 
gard to  the  Word  of  God  appears  to  be  nearly  as  great  as 
ever,  though  contempt  for  it  is  not  so  indecently  express- 
ed. Indeed,  there  is  ample  reason  for  believing,  that,  in 
all  Roman  Catholic  countries,  infidelity,  in  a  greater  or 
less  degree,  is  prevalent  with  most  of  those,  who  consider 
themselves  raised  above  tlie  vulgar  by  station  and  acquire- 
ments. 

Are  the  Protestant  countries  on  the  continent  of  Europe 
exempt  from  the  contagion  ?  There  is  reason  to  appre- 
hend that  the  poison  of  infidelity  is  here  also  spreading 
not  less  rapidly  than  wliere  it  is  fostered  by  the  corrup- 
tions of  the  church  of  Rome  :  of  which  ample  evidence 
might  be  afforded.  But  here  also  another  extraordinary 
feature,  discovering  the  tendencies  of  the  present  age  in 
regard  to  the  belief  in  revelation,  becomes  conspicuous. 
Not  only  is  absolute  infidelity  very  prevalent,  but  the  reli- 
gion that  is  professed  is  more  and  more  assuming  a  charac- 
ter, which  renders  it  different  from  infidelity,  less  in  sub- 
stance than  in  name.  The  most  low  and  unworthy  ideas 
of  the  Christian  Redeemer  are  daily  superseding  the  hon- 
our that  is  his  due  ;  and,  in  the  same  ratio,  ideas  equally 
low  and  unworthy  regarding  the  inspiration  of  the  Sacred 
Volume,  are  spreading  Avith  celerity.  The  church  of 
Geneva,  so  long  regarded  by  a  large  portion  of  the  Chris- 


4  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

tian  world  as  the  centre  of  illumination,  has  published  a 
reformed  creed,  disavowing  any  belief  in  the  divinity  of 
the  Saviour  :  and  the  universities  of  Germany,  which 
have  formerly  rendered  such  essential  services  to  the  cause 
of  Biblical  Learning,  seem  now  to  be  labouring,  through 
the  works  of  their  Professors,  to  reduce  the  standard  of 
inspiration  to  as  low  a  degree  as  is  consistent  with  any  be- 
lief, that  the  books  which  claim  it  contain  a  system  of 
true  religion  ;  so  low  indeed,  that  it  becomes  difficult  to 
perceive  wherein  they  differ  from  the  productions  of  wri- 
ters who  do  not  pretend  to  be  inspired.  A  few  years 
since,  Dr.  G.  Paulus,  a  Professor  in  the  University  of  Jena, 
and  a  Clergyman,  published  a  new  edition  of  the  works 
of  the  celebrated  atheist  or  pantheist,  Spinoza,  with  a 
laudatory  preface,  in  which  he  maintains,  that  tlie  senti- 
ments of  this  acknowledged  infidel  respecting  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  are  the  same  which,  in  the 
hands  of  Professor  Eichhorn  of  the  University  of  Gottin- 
gen,  have  led  to  such  superior  elucidations  of  the  holy 
Volume.  This  Professor  Eiclihorn  has  published  an  In- 
troduction to  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  with  several 
other  works  on  Biblical  criticism,  which  have  been  hailed 
with  enthusiasm  among  his  learned  compatriots,  as  prodi- 
gies of  erudition  and  genius.  By  erudition  and  genius  he 
doubtless  is  distinguished  :  but  how  far  his  works  tend  to 
exalt  the  Scriptures,  however  they  may  elucidate  questions 
connected  with  their  language  and  with  oriental  antiqui- 
ties, will  be  seen  wlien  it  is  stated,  that,  like  our  eccentric 
countryman,  Dr.  Geddes,  he  denies  any  inspiration  to 
Moses.  And  it  is  well  known  that  similar  latitudinarian- 
ism,  miscalled  liberality,  characterizes  the  works  of  the 
modern  German  literati,  and  teachers  of  Christianity  in 
general. 

Let  us  now  turn  our  eyes  for  a  moment  to  our  own 
country.  Britain  may  undoubtedly  be  regarded  as  the 
Latium  of  modern  times.     As  in  Latium,  according  to  the 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  5 

fables  of  the  ancient  mythologists,  the  virtues  of  the  gold- 
en age  took  refuge  after  they  had  been  banished  from  tlie 
rest  of  the  world  ;  so  is  it  in  Britain,  unquestionably,  that 
the  greatest  portion  of  true  religion  is  in  these  ages  to  be 
found.  Here  also,  however,  the  destroying  plague  has  been 
let  loose  ;  and  its  ravages  have  l)een  extensive.     Owing  in 
part  to  the  freedom  which  the  human  mind  in  this  favored 
country  enjoys,  and  the  liberty  of  publishing  its  thoughts, 
which  is  necessary  to  the  keeping  alive  of  this  inestimable 
privilege,  deistical  and  atheistical  writings  have  long  been 
Iiere  abundant  :  a  Hobbes  set  the  example  to   Spinoza,   as 
did  a  Toland  and  Tindal  to  Voltaire  :  and  the  most   des- 
ponding anticipations  were  long  ago  formed  by  the  friends 
of  religion,  of  the  devastating  effects  which   might   finally 
result  from  the  audacity  of  its   assailants.       Wliat    would 
these  worthy  persons  have  thought,   had  they    witnessed 
the  indecency,  as   well   as   audacity,  which  characterizes 
the  efforts  of  infidelity  in  the  present  age  ?    In  their  tiir.es, 
but  comparatively  a  few    speculative    persons   entertained 
any  doubts  of  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion  :  and  the 
attacks  which  were  then  made  against  it  only  excited  at- 
tention in  the  reading  portion  of  society,   which  in   those 
days  was  comparatively  small  :  nay,    the  authors  of  such 
attacks  then  only  addressed  them  to  men  of  education,  and 
thought  the  attempt  to  unsettle  the  faith  of  the  multitude 
too  desperate  an  experiment.      How  different  this  conduct 
from  that  of  the   present  generation  of  the   opposers    of 
Revelation  !     Wisely  concluding,  that   the  less   informed 
the  mind  is,  the  less  will  it  be  capable  of  detecting  the  fal- 
lacy of  their  arguments,  the   infidels  of  the  present   day 
chiefly  aim  at    accommodating  their  publications  to    the 
taste  of  the  mob  ;  whose   passions,    also,   they   labour   to 
enlist  on  their  side,  still   more  than  to  convince  their  un- 
derstanding.     Arrogant  assertion,  coarse  ridicule,  affected 
contempt,  bold  falsehood,   and  overweening   dogmatism, 
with  unfounded  representations    of  the    happiness   which 


6  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OP 

would  ensue  were  mankind  liberated  from  what  they  call 
the  tyranny  of  kings  and  priests,  and  placed  under  no 
control  but  that  of  the  presumed  infallible  guide,  Reason  ; 
— the^e  are  the  chief  weapons  by  which  they  now  make 
conquests  :  and  as  there  is  undoubtedly  much  in  the  human 
heart,  to  which  all  this  is  congenial  and  agreeable,  their 
success  has  certainly  been  extensive  and  alarming.  The 
profligate,  to  whom  the  restraints  of  religion  are  irksome, 
iinds  it  extremely  consolatory  to  be  assured,  that  the  prin- 
ciples which  govern  his  conduct  are  really  "  the  Princi- 
ples of  Nature"  :  and  the  sciolist  in  learning  feels  it  highly 
gratifying  to  his  vanity,  to  decry  as  fallacious,  all  that  is 
beyond  the  reach  of  his  puny  attainment.  Scepticism — as 
incredulity  is  flatteringly  called — may  be  termed  a  short 
road  to  universal  knowledge  :  for  he  who  derides  as  idle 
speculation  whatever  he  cannot  grasp  by  the  exercise  of 
his  sluggish  senses,  is  in  his  own  conceit  as  wise  as  the  arch- 
an'Tel,  to  whom  all  the  mysteries  of  God's  providence 
stand  open,  and  all  the  wonders  of  the  Creative  Energy 
are  Ivnown. 

Here  then  are  two  classes  of  persons  among  whom  the 
contagion  of  infidelity  has  spread  rapidly  indeed.  But  is 
it  among  such,  only,  that  its  converts  are  to  be  found  ? 
This  we  would  by  no  means  presume  to  assert.  No  doubt, 
many  have  had  their  minds  unsettled  in  regard  to  the 
truth  of  revealed  religion,  who  were  not  prepared  to  take 
the  inoculation  of  infidelity  by  a  predisposed  state  of  the 
mental  organization  ;  many  even,  to  whom  it  would  be  a 
great  relief,  could  they  have  their  doubts  removed  to  tJie 
full  satisfaction  of  their  understanding.  These  are  they 
who  have  had  their  attention  directed  to  certain  difliculties 
which  appear  to  exist  in  the  sacred  volume  ;  and  which  must 
ever  ajjpear  as  real  difficulties  to  those  who  are  not  aware 
of  the  true  nature  of  every  divine  composition,  and  of  the 
design  /or  which,  and  the  principles  according  to  which,  it 
is  written  ;  although  when  these  are  correctly  understood, 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  7 

all  seeming  inconsistencies  at  once  disappear.  Whilst  then 
these  difficulties  are  so  industriously  brought  forward,  and 
presented  to  the  attention  with  every  comment  that  can 
help  to  make  them  appear  insuperable  ;  whilst  also  an  an- 
tidote of  sufficient  power  is  not  afforded  by  the  writings 
which  have  been  published  in  reply, — for  such,  I  fear, 
must  be  allowed  to  be  the  fact  ; — we  cannot  so  much  won- 
der at  the  immense  increase  of  infidel  sentiment  at  the 
present  day  ;  an  increase  which  is  really  tremendous  and 
appalling  ;  such  as  must  excite  the  strongest  apprehensions 
of  the  final  issue  with  all  who  do  not  confidently  rely  on 
the  assurance  of  Jesus  Christ  : — "  Heaven  and  earth  shall 
pass  away  :  but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away." 

And  whilst  the  fortress  of  revelation  is  thus  furiously 
assailed  by  those  without,  how  is  it  defended  by  those 
within  ?  Alas  !  by  giving  up  its  outworks  to  the  enemy, 
and  leaving  unguarded  a  passage  to  the  citadel.  1  am  not 
now  speaking  of  the  works  that  have  been  written  in  de- 
fence of  Christianity  ;  but  of  the  principles  which,  in 
modern  times,  have  been  laid  down  from  high  authority, 
regarding  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  themselves. 
By  way,  as  it  would  appear,  of  compromising  the  matter 
with  the  enemy,  the  doctrine  of  the  plenary  inspiration  of 
the  Holy  Word  has,  within  a  recent  period,  been  general- 
ly relinquished  by  those  who  sit  in  Moses'  seat,  and  who 
pronounce,  ex  cathedra,  what  the  church  is  to  believe.  I 
allude  not  to  such  as  are  generally  regarded  as  apostates 
from  the  orthodox  faith  ;  but  the  authorities  to  which  I 
refer,  are  the  acknowledged  oracles  of  the  orthodox  church. 
The  present  Bishop  of  Winchester,  for  example,  in  his 
work  designed  for  the  instruction  of  young  clergymen, 
called  "  the  Elements  of  Christian  Theology,"  lays  down 
the  doctrine  upon  this  question  thus  :  "  When  it  is  said 
that  the  Sacred  Scriptures  are  divinely  inspired,  we  are 
not  to  understand  that  God  suggested  every  word,  or  dic- 
tated every  expression.    From  the  different  styles  in  which 


8 


PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 


the  books  are  written,  and  from  the  different  manners  in 
which  the  same  events  are  related  and  predicted  by  differ- 
ent authors,  it  appears,  that  the  sacred  penmen  were  per- 
mitted to  write  as  their  several  tempers,  understandings, 
and  habits  of  life,  directed  ;  and  that  the  knowledge  com- 
municated to  them  by  inspiration  on  the  subject  of  their 
writings,  was  applied  in  the  same  manner  as  any  know- 
ledge acquired  by  ordinary  means.  J^or  is  it  to  be  supposed 
that  they  icere  thus  inspired  in  every  fact  which  they  related^  or  in 
every  precept  which  they  delivered.  They  were  left  to  the 
common  use  of  their  faculties,  and  did  not,  upon  every 
occasion,  stand  in  need  of  supernatural  communication  ; 
but  whenever,  and  as  far  as,  divine  assistance  was  necessary, 
it  was  always  afforded."  Again  he  says,  "  Though  it  is 
evident  that  the  sacred  historians  sometimes  wrote  under 
the  immediate  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  it  does  not 
follow  that  they  derived  from  revelation  the  knowledge  of 
those  things  which  might  be  collected  from  the  common 
sources  of  human  intelligence.  It  is  sufficient  to  believe, 
that  by  the  general  superintendence  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
they  were  directed  in  the  choice  of  their  materials,  enlight- 
ened to  judge  of  the  truth  and  importance  of  those  accounts 
from  which  they  borrowed  their  information,"  (and  which 
he  states  afterwards  were  accounts  written  by  uninspired 
men)  "  and  prevented  from  recording  any  material  error.'''' 
He  is  here  treating  of  the  writers  of  the  Old  Testament  ; 
of  the  writers  of  tlie  New  Testament  his  sentiments  are  the 
same.  He  says,  "  If  we  believe  that  God  sent  Christ  into 
the  world  to  found  a  universal  religion,  and  that,  by  the 
miraculous  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  empowered  the 
apostles  to  propagate  the  gospel,  as  stated  in  these  books, 
we  cannot  but  believe  that  he  would,  by  his  immediate  in- 
terposition, enable  those  whom  he  appointed  to  record  the 
gospel  for  the  use  of  future  ages,  to  write  without  the 
omission  of  any  important  truth,  or  the  insertion  of  any 
material  error. ''^    And  these  sentiments  are  generally  receiv- 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  ^ 

ed  as  orthodox — are  quoted  from  Bishop  Law,  and  recom- 
mended, though  not  expressly  adopted,  by  the  late  Bishop 
Watson,  in  his  answer  to  Paine,  and  are  laid  down  in  nu- 
merous works  as  the  true  principles  of  Scripture  Inspira- 
tion. What  ideas  the  profoundly  learned  Bishop  Marsh, 
one  of  the  Professors  of  Divinity  at  Cambridge,  entertains 
of  the  inspiration  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  is  evident  from 
his  laboured  scheme  to  account  for  the  composition  of  the 
three  first  gospels,  as  given  with  his  translation  of  Michael- 
is's  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament  ;  in  which  he  sup- 
poses a  principal  and  a  supplemental  sketch  of  the  Saviour's 
life  and  discourses  to  have  been  first  drawn  up  by  unknown 
authors, — to  have  had  various  additions  made  to  them 
afterwards  as  they  passed  through  various  unknown  hands, 
— and  at  last  to  have  been  digested  by  Matthew,  Mark, 
and  Luke,  with  further  additions,  into  the  form  of  their 
respective  gospels.  Other  statements  of  this  nature  might 
be  mentioned  ;  but  they  all  agree  in  the  leading  principle 
of  allowing  only  a  very  partial  inspiration  to  the  sacred 
writers.  Bishop  Lowth,  for  instance,  is  a  name  ever  to  be 
mentioned  with  respect  by  the  Biblical  student,  for  his 
valuable  Prelections  on  Hebrew  poetry,  and  Version  of 
Isaiah  :  but  when  he  represents  the  prophets  as  borrowing 
ideas  from  one  another,  and  as  improving  or  debasing  what 
they  thus  borrowed  according  to  the  sublimity  of  their  po- 
etical genius  or  the  purity  of  their  critical  taste  ;  does  he 
not  degrade  them,  in  a  great  degree,  from  prophets  to 
mere  poets  ?  He  certainly  endeavours  to  elevate  our  es- 
teem for  their  talents  as  men  ;  but  he  assists  in  abolishing 
our  reverence  for  their  writings  as  flowing  from  the  imme- 
diate dictate  of  God. 

Now  how  do  Deists  receive  these  concessions  so  liberally 
made  ?  The  advocates  of  Revelation  may  be  regarded  as 
saying  to  them,  "  See  !  we  have  come  half  way  lo  meet 
you  :  surely  you  will  not  obstinately  refuse  belief,  now 
that  we  require  you  to  believe  so  little."  What  does  the 
2 


10  PLENARir   INSPIRATION   OP 

Deist  answer  ?  He  says,  "  You  are  admitting,  as  fast  as 
you  can,  tiiat  we  are  in  the  right.  If  you,  who  view  the 
subject  through  the  prejudices  of  your  profession,  are  con- 
strained to  give  up  half  of  what  we  demand,  unbiassed 
persons  will  augur  from  tlie  admission,  that  truth  would 
require  a  surrender  of  the  whole."  No,  my  friends  and 
brethren  !  he  who  would  efTectually  defend  the  Christian 
faith  must  take  his  station  on  higher  ground  than  this. 
What  !  tell  the  world,  that  to  escape  the  increasing  influ- 
ence of  infulelity,  they  must  surrender  the  plenary  inspi- 
ration of  the  Scriptures  !  As  well  might  we  tell  them,  that 
to  obtain  security  when  a  flood  is  rising,  they  should  quit 
the  top  of  the  mountain  to  take  refuge  in  a  cave  at  its  base. 
Assuredly,  this  is  a  state  of  things,  calculated  to  fill  the 
breast  of  the  sincere  and  humble  Christian  with  profound 
concern,  if  not  with  deep  alarm.  On  the  one  hand,  he 
beholds  Divine  Revelation  assaulted  with  unprecedented 
fury  and  subtlety  by  those  who  avow  themselves  as  its 
enemies  ; — on  the  other,  he  sees  it  half  betrayed  and  de- 
serted by  those  who  regard  themselves  as  its  friends. 
Every  devout  believer  in  Revelation  feels  an  inward  pre- 
dilection for  the  opinion,  that  the  inspiration  of  a  divinely 
communicated  writing  must  be  plenary  and  absolute.  He 
feels  great  pain  on  being  told,  that  this  is  a  mistaken  no- 
tion ; — that  he  must  surrender  many  things  in  the  Sacred 
Writings  to  the  enemy,  to  retain  any  chance  of  preserving 
the  rest  ;— that  he  must  believe  the  writers  of  the  Scrip- 
tures to  have  been  men  liable  to  error,  as  a  preliminary  to 
his  assurance  that  the  religion  of  the  Scriptures  is  true. 
Surely,  every  one  whose  heart  does  not  take  part  Avith  the 
assailant  of  his  faith,  must  be  glad  to  be  relieved  from  the 
necessity  of  making  surrenders  so  fatal.  The  bowed  staflT 
eagerly  springs  back  to  its  natural  straightness,  when 
lightened  of  the  weight  under  which  it  bent  :  so  he  who 
has  relinquished  the  doctrine  of  plenary  inspiration,  only 
because  he  saw  no  other  way   of  accounting  for  the  difli- 


the:  scriptures  asserted,  &c.  11 

culties  which  have  been  pointed  out  in  the  Sacred  Writ- 
ings, will  return  to  it  with  joy,  as  soon  as  he  sees  how 
those  difficulties  may  be  explained,  without  the  hypothesis 
of  error  in  the  inspired  penmen.     Reflection,  then,  upon 
these  things,  has  occasioned  a  desire  in  myself  and  some 
friends,  to  bring  before  the  public,  a  view  of  the  nature  of 
the  Holy  Word  in  which  this  is  done, — a  view  which,  I 
strongly  feel,  is  the  only  one  that  places  the  Divine  Book 
beyond  the  reach  of  injury  from  infidel  objections.     It  is, 
however,  with  much  diffidence,  that  I  address  an  auditory 
from  a  station,  which  is  at  other  times  occupied  by  some 
of  the  ablest  men,  whom  the  Christian  ministry  of  this 
metropolis  can  boast  :*   [and  I  feel  the  same  self-distrust, 
in  a  still  greater  degree,  on  addressing  the  public  from  the 
press.]     My  only  hope  of  obtaining  acceptance,  is  founded 
in  my  conviction  of  the  solidity  of  the  sentiments,  which 
I  am  to  be  the  very  inadequate  organ  of  unfolding  :  sure, 
also,  I  am,  that  no  candid  minds  will  be  less  pleased  wit'i 
the  truth,  because  it  is  offered  through  a  channel,  which 
they  might  not  previously  have  supposed  adapted  to  con- 
vey it.     The  defence   of  the   oracles  which  contain  the 
revelation  of  the  Christian  religion,  is  the  common  duty 
of  all  who  assume  the  Christian  name  :  and  all  who  are 
sincerely  attached  to  the  Christian  cause,  will  extend  the 
right  hand  of  fellowship  to  any  one,  be  he  otherwise  who 
he  may,  who  can  point  out  a  new  line  of  defence,  and  shew 
how   the   divine  authority  of   Revelation    may  be   more 
effectually  upheld.     We  are  assured,  also,  that  the  Lord's 
care  over  his  church  can  never  be  intermitted  ;  tliat  in 
proportion  to  the  magnitude  of  the  dangers  to  which  she 
is  exposed,  will  be  the  communication  of  means  by  which 
she  may  be  defended  :  and  it  is  perfectly  in  harmony  with 
the  ordinary  economy  of  Divine  Providence,  that  those 


*  A  series  of  Lectures  on  Scripture  Biography  was  then  in  a  course  of 
delivery  at  Albion  Hall,  by  the  most  eminent  Ministera  of  the  Independent 
Connexion. 


12  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

means  should  come  from  a  quarter  whence  they  are  least 
expected.  Confiding  then  in  the  divine  support,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  relying,  on  the  other,  on  the  charity  and 
love  of  truth  which  must  ever  reign  in  the  bosom  of  ihe 
true  Christian  ; — appealing  also  to  the  liberality  and  re- 
gard to  pure  reason  which  is  constantly  professed  by  the 
Deist  ;  I  beg  the  favourable  and  earnest  attention  of  this 
auditory,  [and  of  the  reader,]  while  I  discuss  the  subjects 
announced  for  consideration  in  these  Lectures. 

The  question  of  the  J^ecessHy  of  Divine  Revelation,  has 
been  so  frequently  and  so  satisfactorily  treated  by  others, 
that,  as  it  is  my  wish,  as  far  as  possible,  to  avoid  going 
over  ground  that  has  been  trodden  before,  I  shall  not  dwell 
long  on  this  part  of  the  subject. 

The  view  which  I  would  take  of  this  question,  is  this. 
It  is  certain,  that  all  the  facts  witli  which  history  brings 
us  acquainted  in  regard  to  the  state  of  mankind  in  former 
ages,  and  all  those  which  are  supplied  to  us  by  the  obser- 
vations of  travellers  respecting  the  present  state  of  man- 
kind in  the  different  countries  on  the  globe,  afford  the 
most  decided  evidence,  that,  without  aid  from  Revelation, 
man  is  little  better  than  a  brute  ; — that  to  Revelation 
are  owing  all  the  superior  excellences  which  ennoble  his 
character  as  a  man.  Infidel  writers  talk  of  the  light  of 
reason,  and  they  speak  of  the  duties  of  man  in  society, 
with  every  thing  necessary  to  his  moral  and  intellectual 
improvement,  as  being  easily  deducible  by  the  light  of 
nature.  The  high  utility  of  these  sources  of  intelligence 
I  readily  admit  :  but  when  I  hear  such  assertions  as  these, 
I  always  feel  a  wish  to  be  informed  how  it  has  happened, 
that  the  light  of  nature  never  conducted  man  to  these  dis- 
coveries, except  when  Nature  had  the  means  of  lighting 
her  candle  at  the  torch  of  Revelation.  It  is  evidently  from 
the  general  improvement  in  the  intelligence  of  the  human 
mind  which  Revelation  has  produced,  that  modern  infidels 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &,C.  13 

have  been  enabled  to  illuminate  their  reveries  Vi^ith  some 
beautiful  truths  :  These  truths  w^ere  not  discovered  to 
them  either  by  the  light  of  nature  or  the  light  of  reason  : 
they  took  them  first  from  that  religion  in  which  they  had 
been  brought  up  ;  and  then,  finding  them  recommend 
themselves  by  their  own  evidence,  and  to  be  agreeable  to 
the  light  of  reason  and  nature  ;  they  have  ascribed  them  to 
that  source  ;  and  thus  they  set  up  the  offspring  of  Revela- 
tion to  destroy  the  authority  of  the  parent. 

Never  yet  was  a  nation  known  to  have  emerged  from 
barbarism  to  civilization,  without  instruction  communi- 
cated, either  immediately  or  traditionally,  from  Revela- 
tion. According  to  the  testimony  both  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  of  other  ancient  authorities,  all  religion,  which  was 
all  originally  founded  in  Revelation,  began  in  the  east, 
and  has  thence  been  diffused  in  the  west  ;  and  it  is  well 
known,  that  the  same  has  been  the  tract  in  which  civiliza- 
tion has  flowed  over  the  world.  The  first  created  men 
had,  as  the  Scriptures  assure  us,  the  knowledge  of  God 
and  of  their  duty  communicated  to  them  by  immediate 
Revelation.  After  the  flood,  Revelation  was  continued  in 
the  family  of  Noah,  by  whose  posterity  all  the  powerful 
and  highly  polished  nations  of  antiquity  were  founded. 
Even  the  Grecian  and  other  ancient  mythologies  were  cor- 
ruptions of  the  originally  true  religion  communicated  by 
Revelation  to  Noah  and  his  descendants.  This  takes 
away  the  plea  of  those,  who  would  appeal  to  the  philoso- 
phers of  Greece  as  examples  of  the  efficacy  of  the  light  of 
nature.  This  plea  has  indeed  been  well  answered  by 
Leland  and  others,  who  have  shewn,  that,  under  the  name 
of  philosophy,  the  most  ridiculous  fancies  in  theory,  and 
the  most  corrupt  abominations  in  morals,  were  often  foist- 
ed on  mankind,  and  that  a  man  would  wander  in  darkness 
indeed,  who  should  draw  all  his  light  from  such  fountains 
alone.  But  admitting,  for  argument's  sake,  that  it  would 
be  safe  to  take  the  best  of  the  philosophers  as  guides  in 


14  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

religion  and  morals  :  it  is  a  well  known  fact,  that  both 
Plato  and  Pythagoras  derived  a  part  of  their  systems  from 
the  priests  of  Egypt,  whom  they  went  expressly  to  con- 
sult ;  and  though  the  pure  light  of  Revelation  was  in 
Egypt  greatly  obscured,  yet  it  is  certain  that  all  the  true 
knowledge  of  a  religious  nature  which  the  Egyptians  pos- 
sessed, was  what  remained  from  their  original  descent  from 
the  son  of  Noah.  As  natives  of  Greece  then,  where  the 
religion  derived  from  the  revelation  to  Noah  existed  un- 
der  one  form  of  corruption,  and  as  students  in  Egypt, 
where  the  same  original  religion  existed  under  another 
form  of  corruption,  Pythagoras  and  Plato  possessed  them- 
selves of  all  the  remains  of  knowledge  which  tradition  had 
preserved  from  that  Revelation.  I  would  by  no  means 
affirm,  as  some  learned  men  have  done,  that  Plato  borrow- 
ed any  of  his  ideas  from  the  Jews,  or  that  the  writings  of 
Moses  afforded  any  of  the  materials  for  the  Grecian  my- 
thology :  but  there  was  a  revelation  existing  in  the  world 
before  that  given  by  the  instrumentality  of  Moses,  and 
which  was  similar  to  his  in  substance,  though  different  in 
form  ;  and  this,  turned  into  symbolic  representations,  was 
the  foundation  of  the  popular  religion,  whilst  the  ideas 
veiled  in  those  symbols  were  the  basis  of  philosophic 
speculation,  among  all  the  distinguished  nations  of 
antiqviity. 

The  sceptic  may  laugh  at  the  assertion,  but  I  am  satis- 
fied that  they  who  can  view  things  in  their  causes  will  see 
its  truth  ;  that,  whatever  they  who  would  separate  science 
from  religion  may  pretend  to  the  contrary,  Revelation  is, 
in  an  indirect  manner,  the  fountain-head  of  all  science  ; 
for  it  is  in  consequence  of  the  elevation  of  the  faculties 
that  is  occasioned  by  the  reception  of  the  truths  which  are 
the  objects  of  revelation,  and  the  consequent  illumination 
of  the  mind  with  heavenly  light,  (allow  this  phrase,  ye 
advocates  of  the  light  of  nature  ! — for  if  there  be  such  a 
thing  as  Revelation,  the  percej)tions  which  are  its  offspring 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  15 

must  be  the  progeny  of  heavenly  light,)  that  it  becomes 
receptive  of  liigher  degrees  of  natural  light,  and  is  capable 
of  making  greater  discoveries  in  the  truths  which  are  the 
objects  of  science.  It  is  true  that  these  may  be  separated, 
and  that  men  may  excel  in  natural  science,  who  ridicule 
every  thing  spiritual  :  yet  it  is  only  in  consequence  of 
their  receiving  the  outward  part  of  the  sphere  of  illumi- 
nation, which  continually  flows  from  God  into  the  human 
mind,  through  the  medium  of  those  who  receive  the  inter- 
nal part  of  it.  by  admitting  the  truths  of  Revelation,  that 
progress  is  made  in  natural  science.  All  real  intelligence, 
on  whatever  subject,  must  unquestionably  be  the  product 
of  a  sphere  of  illumination  flowing  continually  from  God. 
The  highest  objects  of  this  illumination  must  be  the  truths 
that  relate  to  man's  welfare  as  an  immortal  beingr, — the 
lowest,  those  which  conduce  only  to  his  well-being  in  this 
world.  Intelligence  in  the  former  respect  then,  must  be 
considered  as  the  operation  of  an  interior  sphere  of  divine 
illumination  ;  and  intelligence  in  the  latter,  as  the  opera- 
tion of  an  exterior  sphere  of  the  same.  Now  the  former 
must  be  to  the  latter,  just  what  the  soul  is  to  the  body  : 
and  the  latter  can  no  more  be  entirely  separated  from  the 
former  without  extinction,  than  the  body  can  be  sepa- 
rated from  the  soul  without  death.  Ajrain  :  Illumina- 
tion  in  spiritual  things  is  to  illumination  in  natural,  what 
the  heart  is  to  the  members.  If  the  femoral  artery  be 
divided  and  secured,  the  limb  will  still  receive  nourish- 
ment through  the  anastomosing  vessels  :  this  answers  to 
the  case  of  the  existence  of  scientific  attainments,  with 
those  who  deny  religion  ;  who  yet  receive  the  exterior 
sphere  of  illumination  from  God,  in  consequence  of  living 
in  connexion  with  those  who  receive  the  interior  sphere 
also  :  but  separate  the  limb  entirely  from  communication 
with  the  heart,  by  dividing  all  the  vessels,  and  the  limb 
will  speedily  waste  away  :  and  this  exhibits  the  fate  of 
science,  were   it    altogether  separated   from   Revelation. 


16  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

Transplant  then  a  colony  of  atheistic  philosophers  (Deists, 
as  retaining  from  Revelation  the  belief  of  a  God,  would 
not  be  proper  subjects  for  the  experiment  : — but  transplant 
a  colony  of  atheistic  men  of  learning,)  to  a  remote  corner 
of  the  globe,  and  allow  them  no  communication  whatever 
with  the  disciples  of  Revelation  ;  and  the  certain  effect 
would  be,  that  they  would  degenerate  by  degrees  into 
absolute  barbarism.  To  what  cause  can  be  attributed  the 
wonderful  superiority  in  literature  and  the  arts,  which  the 
inhabitants  of  Christendom  have  so  long  maintained  over 
all  the  other  nations  on  the  globe,  but  to  their  minds  being 
more  receptive  of  light  of  all  kinds,  in  consequence  of 
their  admitting  the  light  of  Revelation  ?  How  extraordi- 
nary too  is  the  power  which  they  derive  from  this  source  ! 
See  how  they  have  covered  the  whole  western  world  with 
their  colonies,  and  how  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  have 
faded  from  before  them  !  Behold  what  an  empire  they 
have  established  in  the  east,  almost  without  colonization, 
by  the  pure  force  of  moral  superiority  !  It  is  not  meant  to 
be  asserted  that  they  have  always  made  the  best  use  of 
their  superiority,  but  only  that  it  unquestionably  exists. 
Superiority  in  arms  is,  undoubtedly,  the  offspring  of  su- 
periority in  arts  and  science  ;  and  these  are  the  products 
of  natural  light,  which  is  the  offspring  of  spiritual  ;  and 
thus  Christians  are  the  arbiters  of  the  destinies  of  the 
world,  because  they  are  the  depositaries  of  the  Word  of 
God.  As  the  tropical  climates  so  immensely  excel  all  oth- 
ers in  the  luxuriance  of  their  vegetable  productions,  be- 
cause they  receive  most  directly  the  i-ecreating  energies  of 
the  orb  of  day  ;  and  as  all  other  countries  are  jiroductive 
or  otherwise  according  to  the  proportion  which  they 
obtain  of  the  vivifying  beams,  till,  at  the  poles,  perpetual 
sterility  reigns  :  so  are  the  powers  of  the  human  mind  in- 
vigorated or  otherwise  in  proportion  to  their  reception  of 
the  beams  of  Revelation,  and  when  excluded  from  these, 
they  languish    in  the   torpor  of  dulness  and  ignorance. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  17 

Paradoxical  then  as  tlie  assertion  may  sound  in  the  ears  of 
some,  it  is  a  certain  fact,  that  could  those  who  cultivate 
science  without  regard  to  religion,  and  who  reject  the 
Holy  Word,  the  parent  of  all  science,  accomplish  the  ob- 
ject which  some  of  them  have  aimed  at,  of  destroying  the 
Holy  Word  by  the  aid  of  licr  rebel  progeny  ;  they  would 
accomplish  much  more  than  they  intended  :  in  digging  a 
grave  for  Religion,  they  would  open  one,  in  Avhich,  not 
long  afterwards,  Science  also  would  be  entombed. 

Jn  one  word,  Until  an  instance  can  be  adduced  of  a 
nation  that  has  flourished  in  arts,  morals,  and  civilization, 
without  any  assistance  from  Revelation,  we  have  full  rea- 
son for  concluding,  that  Revelation  is  necessary.  For  the 
attainment  even  of  the^e  natural  benefits, — in  order  to 
man's  enjoyment  of  the  true  excellences  and  attaining  the 
perfections  of  his  nature,  in  this  life,  the  light  of  Revela- 
lation  is  indispensable  :  of  the  existence  and  attributes  of 
God,  of  his  own  immortality,  of  the  existence  and  nature 
of  a  life  hereafter,  and  of  the  means  by  which  he  may 
there  attain  the  true  end  of  his  being,  without  the  light  of 
Revelation,  he  would  know  notliing  at  all.  Here  then  it 
becomes  indispensable  indeed  ;  and  therefore,  in  all  ages 
of  the  Avorld,  it  has  been  afforded. 

Since  then  we  have  such  ample  reason  for  concluding, 
that  a  revelation  from  God,  under  some  form  or  other,  is 
absolutely  necessary  to  the  well-being  of  man  : — on  the 
supposition  that  God,  to  make  the  advantages  of  revelation 
constant  and  permanent,  should  cause  it  to  be  communi- 
cated in  a  written  composition  ;  what  is  the  character 
which,  we  may  justly  conclude,  such  a  written  revelation 
would  assume  .''  Our  ideas  on  this  question  will  be  regu- 
lated by  the  ideas  we  have  conceived  of  the  natuie  of  God 
Himself:  certainly,  if  these  are  such  as  are  worthy  of  tlie 
Father  of  Creation,  we  shall  be  led  to  expect  something 
of  a  most  exalted  nature  in  a  written  revelation  of  his  will. 
Who  then   is  tliis  wonderful  Being,  whom  we  assume  to 


15  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

be  the  author  of  the  writings  called  the  Holy  Word  ?  In- 
fidelity itself  must  allow,  that  this  question  cannot  be  more 
appropriately  answered,  than  is  done,  as  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Lord  Himself,  by  the  prophet  Isaiah  :  "  I  am  the 
First,  and  I  am  the  Last,  and  beside  me  there  is  no  God." 
"  Who  has  measured  the  waters  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand, 
and  meted  out  heaven  with  a  span,  and  comprehended  the 
dust  of  the  earth,  in  a  measure,  or  weighed  the  mountains 
in  scales,  and  the  hills  in  a  balance  ?  Who  has  directed  the 
spirit  of  the  Lord,  or,  being  his  counsellor,  has  taught 
him  ?  With  whom  tcrok  he  counsel,  or  who  instructed 
him,  and  taught  him  in  the  path  of  judgment,  and  taught 
him  knowledge,  and  shewed  him  the  way  of  understand- 
ing ?  Behold,  the  nations  are  as  the  drop  of  a  bucket,  and 
are  counted  as  the  small  dust  of  the  balance  :  behold,  he 
taketh  up  the  isles  as  a  very  little  thing,:  Lebanon  is  not 
sufficient  to  burn,  and  the  beasts  thereof  for  a  burnt  offer- 
ing !  All  nations  before  him  are  as  nothing,  and  they  are 
counted  to  him  as  less  than  nothing,  and  vanity.  To 
whom  then  will  ye  liken  God  .''  or  what  likeness  will  ye 
compare  unto  him  ?"  He  is  "  the  High  and  Lofty  One 
that  inhibiteth  eternity,  whose  name  is  Holy."*  It  is  by 
such  images  as  these  that  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment depict  tlie  grandeur  of  the  Author  of  the  Bible  ;  nor 
does  the  New  Testament  describe  him  in  less  impressive 
terms.  When  he  manifested  himself  to  John,  as  related  in 
the  first  chapter  of  the  Revelation,  it  is  written  ;  "  I  am 
Alpha  and  Omega,  the  Beginning  and  the  Ending,  saitli 
the  Lord,  Who  Is,  and  Who  Was,  and  Who  is  to  Come, 
the  Almighty."! — I  forbear  to  add  any  thing  to  these  scrip- 
tural representations  :  for  in  attempting  to  delineate  the 
ineffable  perfections  of  God,  all  human  language  must  fall 
infinitely  too  low  : — yea,  this  is  a  theme  of  so  transcendant 
a  nature,  that  the  tongues  of  angels  could  never  do  it  jus- 
tice.    Let  us  elevate  our  ideas  as   far  as  we  possibly  can 

*  Isa.  xliv.  G,  xl.  1-2  to  18,  Ivii.  Jo.  T  Vit.  8. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  19 

above  all  that  is  earthly  and  gross  ; — let  us  form  the  grand- 
est conceptions  we  possibly  can  of  the  intense  ardour  of 
the  Divine  Love,  of  the  transcendant  brightness  of  the 
Divine  Wisdom,  and  of  the  immense  extension  of  the  Di- 
vine Omnipotence  :  and  then  let  us  recollect,  that  these 
Divine  Attributes  are  infinitely  beyond  all  that  the  highest 
efforts  of  imagination  can  conceive. 

Now  whilst  we  are  meditating  on  these  three  grand 
attributes  of  Deity, — his  Love,  his  Wis^dom,  and  his  Pow- 
er ; — if  we  would  endeavour  to  picture  to  our  thoughts 
how  far  they  might  respectively  be  exerted,  we  certainly 
could  never  conceive  any  thing  beyond  what  the  Scrip- 
tures represent  them  as  having  actually  performed.  Thus 
if  we  were  to  consider  in  what  works  the  Divine  Love 
might  most  evidently  be  displayed,  we  assuredly  could 
imagine  nothing  more  replete  therewith  than  the  wonders 
of  our  own  creation  and  redemption.  For  the  Lord 
doubtless  created  mankind  expressly  with  the  design  to 
bless  them  with  every  felicity  :  he  also  provided  an  eter- 
nal heaven  in  which  that  felicity  might  be  permanently 
enjoyed  :  and  what  could  Infinite  Love  do  more  ?  Yet  the 
Love  of  the  Lord  has  done  more.  For  when  man  had 
entirely  receded  from  the  end  of  his  creation,  such  was 
the  mercy  of  Him  by  whom  all  things  were  made,  and  without 
xohom  was  not  any  thing  made  that  was  made,*  that  he  assumed 
man's  nature  by  incarnation  in  the  world,  in  order  to  lead 
him  back  to  his  Maker  and  to  bliss. 

If  again  we  were  to  consider  witliin  ourselves,  in  what 
manner  the  Divine  Power  of  the  Lord  might  be  most  evi- 
dently  displayed,  we  could  not  possibly  imagine  any  more 
stupendous  exertions  of  it  than  those  which  we  see  around 
us.  For  what  amazing  power  must  that  have  been,  by 
which  this  fair  globe  was  formed,  and  peopled  with  in- 
numerable inhabitants  ;  by  which  the  enormous  orb  that 
gives  us  light  and   heat   Was  created  ;  and  by  which  my- 

*  John  i.  3. 


20  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

riads  of  other  such  immense  repositories  of  heat  and  light, 
each  with  a  train  of  dependant  worlds,  were  called  into 
existence,  and  arranged  in  an  order  that  baffles  all  human 
intellect  to  conceive,  through  the  boundless  fields  of  im- 
measurable space  ! 

Since  then  these  manifest  exhibitions  of  the  Divine  Love 
and  the  Divine  Power  are  of  so  immense  and  magnificent 
a  nature,  must  we  not  expect  that  an  immediate  revelation 
of  the  Divine  Wisdom  would  be  equally  wonderful  and 
glorious  ?  That  in  all  the  works  which  we  have  already 
mentioned  the  Divine  Wisdom  is  apparent,  and  that  none 
of  them  could  have  existed  without  it,  is,  indeed,  a  cer- 
tain truth  :  still  we  may  imagine  a  method  in  which  the 
Divine  Wisdom  might  be  more  immediately  and  expressly 
discovered.  The  readiest  means  we  have  of  judging  of 
the  intelligence  or  understanding  of  men,  is,  by  their  sen- 
timents and  conversation  ;  and  if  a  man  writes  a  book,  we 
expect  to  find  in  it  the  plainest  evidence  of  his  wisdom, 
knowledge,  and  mental  attainments.  Suppose  then  the 
Lord  God  Almighty  himself  should  reveal  his  Wisdom  in 
this  manner  ;  suppose  he  should  write,  or  cause  to  be 
written,  a  book  for  the  instruction  of  man  ;  should  we  not 
conclude,  that  such  as  t!ie  Lord  God  Almighty  is,  such  his 
book  would  be  .''  should  we  not  infer,  that  such  a  book,  like 
its  author,  must,  as  to  its  contents,  be  infinite  and  divine  .'' 
Should  Vv^e  not  expect  to  see  the  glories  of  eternal  wis- 
dom shine  fortii  from  every  pa^e  .''  All  mankind,  with 
one  voice,  must  answer  these  questions  in  tlie  afiirmative. 

Here  then  we  come  to  the  great  question  that  is  at  issue 
between  the  Christian  and  the  Deist.  It  cannot  be  denied, 
we  see,  that  a  written  Revelation  that  is  really  from  God, 
must  answer  the  character  which  we  have  attempted  to 
depict  :  Do  then  the  writings  contained  in  the  book  called 
the  Bible,  come  up  to  this  character  ;  and  are  we,  on  that 
account,  authorised  to  receive  those  writings  as  the  Word 
of  God  ?  I  hesitate  not  to  reply,  with  the  fullest  confi- 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &,C.  21 

dence,  that  they  do  ;  and  I  hope  to   make  this  in   some 
degree  evident  before  the  conclusion  of  these  Lectures. 

By  the  Deist,  however,  such  an  answer  as  this  may  be 
received  with  the  utmost  scorn.  He  will  readily  enough 
admit,  that  a  book  that  is  really  communicated  by  divine 
inspiration,  ought  to  answer  to  the  character  which  we 
have  just  described  :  but  he  will  declare,  that  he  can  dis- 
cover no  traces  of  such  a  character  in  the  book  called  the 
Bible.  He  will  affirm,  that  such  a  character  as  this  can 
by  no  means  belong  to  a  book  in  which  tliere  are  many 
statements  that  are  contradictory  to  each  other  ;  many  that 
are  contradictory  to  reason  and  science  ;  many  that  are 
contradictory  to  just  morality  ;  and  the  greater  part  of 
which  book,  moreover,  is  occupied  with  matters  of  an 
indifferent  nature,  unworthy  of  the  concern  of  an  Infinite 
Being.  To  these  four  heads  may  all  the  classes  of  infidel 
objections  to  the  Scriptures  be  reduced.  Some  of  the 
objections  are,  in  my  estimation,  fully  refuted  in  the  many 
valuable  defences  of  the  Scriptures  which  have  been  pub- 
lished by  various  authors  ;  but  some  of  them,  I  candidly 
acknowledge,  have  not,  in  my  opinion,  been  adequately 
met  :  the  reason,  I  apprehend,  has  been,  because  the  gen- 
erality of  those  who  have  written  in  modern  times  in  de- 
fence of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  had  not  those  just  ideas  of 
the  primitive  ages  respecting  their  true  nature  and  design, 
which  alone  can  meet  every  objection  fully  and  without 
reserve.  I  will  here  give  a  slight  statement  of  the  nature 
of  each  of  these  four  classes  of  objections  :  and  I  will  not 
shrink  from  stating  them  with  all  the  force  of  which  thev 
are  susceptible  : — because  I  am  completely  satisfied,  tiiat  tiie 
views  I  shall  develope  in  the  succeeding  Lectures,  will  be 
fully  adequate  to  overthrow  them  all.  It  is  of  no  real  use 
to  present  things  partially  and  unfairly  :  this  ahvays  gives 
opportunity  of  triumph  to  an  enemy  ;  and  will  oidy  secure 
the  attachment  of  a  friend,  so  long  as  we  can  secure  his 
remainins  in  i;rnorance. 


22  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

Great  stress  has  been  laid  by  infidel  objectors  upon  their 
charge  of  contradictory  statements  of  facts  :  and  of  the 
instances  alleged  to  be  such,  they  have  collected  a  great 
number. 

Thus,  after  Moses  had  directed  Aaron,  saying,  "  Take 
thy  rod,  and  stretch  out  t!iy  hand  upon  the  waters  of 
Egypt,  upon  their  streams,  upon  their  rivers,  and  upon 
their  ponds,  and  upon  all  their  pools  of  water,  that  they 
may  become  blood  ;  and  that  there  may  be  blood 
throughout  all  the  land  of  Egypt,  both  in  vessels  of  wood, 
and  in  vessels  of  stone  ;"* — and  after  it  is  related,  in  the  two 
next  verses,  that  the  miracle  was  performed  accordingly  ; 
— objectors  affirm  that  Moses  must  strangely  have  forgot- 
ten himself,  to  say  in  the  verse  following,  "  And  the  ma- 
gicians of  Egypt  did  so  with  tlieir  enchantments."  When 
all  the  water  of  Egypt  was  turned  into  blood  before,  how, 
it  is  asked,  could  the  magicians  repeat  the  operation  ? — 
But  the  varieties  observable  in  the  manner  in  which  the 
different  evangelists  state  the  events  of  the  life  of  Jesus 
Ciirist,  sometimes  disagreeing  in  tlie  order  of  time,  and 
sometimes  in  the  circumstances  with  which  the  facts  were 
attended,  have  afforded  an  extensive  field  for  opprobrious 
animadversions.  When  Matthew,f  in  relating  the  tempta- 
tion of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  the  wilderness,  makes  it 
conclude  with  the  rebuff  he  gave  the  tempter  on  being 
offered  the  dominion  of  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  on 
condition  that  he  would  worship  the  Satanic  deceiver  ; 
whilst  Luke|  places  last  the  suggestion  to  throw  himself 
<lown  from  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple  in  proof  of  his  being 
the  Son  of  God  ; — it  is  argued  that  the  v.hole  is  a  fiction, 
marked  as  such  ])y  the  prevarication  which  so  commonly 
attends  the  testimony  of  witnesses  who  undertake  to  sup- 
port a  falsehood :  and  Christian  advocates,  while  they 
deny  the  inference  that  the  Avhole  or  any  part  is  a  fiction, 

«  E.vod.  vii.  I'J.  '       1   Cli.  iv.  10.  I  Cii.  iv.  'J. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  2S 

allow  that  one  of  the  relaters  must  have  been  mistaken  in 
regard  to  the  order  of  time,  and  that,  though  he  relates 
true  events,  he  relates  them  from  his  own  imperfectly  in- 
formed mind,  and  not  from  divine  inspiration.  Again,  the 
objectors  ask,  What  credit  is  to  be  given  to  the  veracity 
of  writers, — and,  especially,  what  becomes  of  their  claim 
to  divine  inspiration, — when  they  misquote  so  grossly  the 
books  which  they  esteemed  sacred,  as  to  assign  to  one 
writer  what  is  only  to  be  found  in  the  book  of  another  ? 
Thus  Matthew,  on  occasion  of  the  purchase  of  the  potter's 
field  with  the  refunded  price  of  the  treachery  of  Judas, 
says,  "  Then  was  fulfilled  that  which  was  spoken  by  Jere- 
my the  prophet,  saying,  '  And.  they  took  the  thirty  pieces 
of  silver,  tlie  price  of  him  that  was  valued,  whom  they  of 
the  children  of  Israel  did  value,  and  gave  them  for  the 
potter's  field  ;  as  the  Lord  appointed  me.'  "*  The  only 
passage  in  the  Old  Testament  which  bears  any  similitude 
to  this,  is  not  in  the  book  of  Jeremiah,  but  in  that  of 
Zechariah-I  And  the  harmonizers  of  Scripture  have 
seen  no  way  of  surmounting  this  difficulty,  but  by  one  of 
two  equally  dangerous  admissions ; — either  that  Mat- 
thew was  mistaken  ;  or  that  the  book  of  Jeremiah  has 
come  down  to  us  in  a  very  mutilated  state.  The  only 
other  example  of  deistical  objections  from  alleged  contra- 
dictions which  I  shall  mention,  is  that  drawn  from  the 
account  of  the  two  thieves  who  were  crucified  witli  Jesus, 
as  given  by  Matthew  and  by  Luke.  After  relating  the 
cruel  scoffs  with  which  the  Saviour  was  insulted  by  the 
Jews  as  he  hung  on  the  cross,  Matthew  says.j  "  And  the 
thieves  also,  which  were  crucified  with  him,  cast  the  same 
in  his  teeth  :"  whereas  Luke§  affirms  that  only  one  of 
them  displayed  this  brutality,  and  that  he  was  rebuked  for 
it  by  the  other  ;  who,  so  far  from  mocking,  "  said  unto 
Jesus,  Lord,   remember  lae  when  thou   comest  into  thv 


IVIatt.  xxvu.  9,  10.     t  Ch.  xi.  12, 13.    j  Ch.  xxvii.  42.     §  Ch.  xxiii.39  to  43. 


24  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OP 

kingdom."  This  difference  is  accounted  for  variously  by 
the  commentators,  some  of  whom  say,  that  when  Matthew 
speaks  of  thieves,  in  the  plural,  he  only  means  one  of 
them  ;  whilst  others  suppose  that  they  both,  at  first,  join- 
ed in  the  scoffs,  but  that  one  of  them  afterwards  repented. 
But  the  objectors  treat  these  solutions  as  mere  evasions  ; 
affirm  that  the  passages  are  in  direct  opposition  ;  and  ask 
in  triumph,  which  we  are  to  receive  as  the  pure  Word  of 
God. 

The  second  class  of  Objections — the  imputed  contradic- 
tions to  science — chiefly  regard  the  Mosaic  account  of  the 
creation  and  the  deluge.  Tlie  account  of  the  creation  in 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  it  is  alleged,  cannot  possibly 
be  true  ;  because  the  science  of  geology,  which  within  a 
few  years  past  has  received  such  great  improvements,  fully 
evinces  that  the  whole  globe  of  earth,  with  its  innumerable 
tribes  of  inhabitants,  vegetable,  animal,  and  human,  was 
not  formed  within  the  short  space  of  six  days,  as  there  de-^ 
tailed.  Besides,  it  is  affirmed,  that  independently  of  geo- 
logy, reason  alone  proves  the  inaccuracy  of  the  statement  : 
for  light  is  said  to  have  been  produced  on  the  first  day  ;* 
whereas  tlie  sun,  moon  and  stars  were  not  created  till  the 
fourth  day  ;f  and  it  is  very  certain,  as  we  now  often  expe- 
rience on  a  very  cloudy  night  when  the  moon  is  below  the 
horizon,  that  without  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  there  cannot 
be  any  light.  It  is  likewise  related,  that  all  the  vegetable 
creation  was  produced  on  the  third  day,+  thus  before  the 
formation  of  the  sun  ;  yet  every  rustic  knows  that  without 
the  heat  of  the  sun  there  can  be  no  vegetation.  So  also  the 
history  states,  that,  after  Cain  had  killed  his  brother,  he 
w^as  terrified  lest  every  one  that  met  him  should  kill  him, 
to  prevent  which  a  mark  was  set  on  him  by  God  ;§ — which 
evidently  supposes,  that  at  this  time  the  earth  had  numer- 
ous inhabitants  ;   although,  according  to  the  record,  none 

*  Ver.  3,  5.         +  Ver.  16,  19.  t  Ver.  11,  13.  §   Gen.  iv.  14,  15. 


THE     SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    fcc.  25 

were  then  living  on  it,  beside  Cain,  but  his  father  and  mo- 
ther, who  would  know  him  whether  a  special  mark  were 
set  on  him  or  not.  With  regard  to  the  deluge,  they  affirm 
it  to  be  improbable  that  any  general  deluge  ever  should 
have  existed,  after  the  globe  was  once  brought  into  a  state 
adapted  for  the  support  of  a  human  population  ;  and  they 
raise  great  objections  as  to  the  possibility  of  providing 
room  in  the  ark  sufficient  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
immense  multitude  to  which  the  prescribed  numbers  of 
animals  of  all  species  must  have  amoiinted,*  and  to  contain, 
besides,  an  adequate  stock  of  provision.  According  to  the 
history,  Noah  with  his  companions,  animal  and  human, 
remained  in  the  ark  a  year  and  ten  days  :f  and  a  long  pe- 
riod must  afterwards  have  elapsed  before  the  devastated 
earth  produced  a  sufficiency  of  new  food  for  their  support. 
Tliis  objection  has  been  answered  by  calculations  to  prove 
the  immense  bulk  of  the  ark,  which,  it  has  been  shewn, 
must  have  been  equal  in  magnitude  to  twenty  first  rate  men 
of  war,  and  to  more  than  forty  of  the  largest  Indiamen  ; 
but  this,  while  it  is  alleged  to  be  still  quite  insufficient  for 
the  purposes  required,  has  furnished  the  infidel  with  ano- 
ther objection,  who  contends,  that  no  vessel  of  such  mag- 
nitude could  be  made  to  cohere  together. 

But  the  most  serious  class  of  Objections  against  the  di- 
vinity of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  is  that  which  has  recently 
been  urged  in  such  shameless  terms,  declaring  the  Bible, 
— Avhich  well-disposed  minds  have  revered  for  ages  as  the 
code  of  all  perfect  morality, — to  be  the  most  immoral 
book  in  the  world  !  Certainly,  to  ground  this  charge,  as 
is  in  great  part  done,  upon  those  passages  in  which  criminal 
practices  are  mentioned  for  the  express  purpose  of  being 
condemned,  and  of  warning  mankind  against  the  dreadful 
consequences  which  must  overtake  the  perpetrators  ;  or 
even  to  ground  it  upon   the  incidental   mention,  without 

'  Cha.  vii.  2,  3.  1   Gen.  vii.  11.  viii.  14. 

4 


26  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OP 

comment,  of  the  commission  of  great  crimes  ;— surely  this 
evinces  the  accusation  to  have  originated  in  nothing  hut 
deep  malignity  against  the  Bible,  its  Author,  and  its  friends. 
But  the  charge  deserves  more  attention  when  they  support 
it  by  instances  of  criminal  conduct  in  persons  that  are 
spoken  of  as  peculiarly  accepted  by  God.  Thus  they 
dwell  much  upon  the  case  of  Jacob,  who,  at  the  instigation 
of  his  mother  Rebekah,  defrauded  his  brother  Esau  of  his 
father's  blessing,  by  a  most  extraordinary  deception  prac- 
tised upon  Isaac,  and  supported,  when  the  old  man  sus- 
pected it,  by  the  strongest  asseveration  of  a  deliberate 
falsehood.*  By  the  example  of  the  same  patriarch,  who 
had  two  wives  and  two  concubines  ;  and  indeed  of  nearly 
all  the  Jewish  worthies  and  kings,  a  sanction  is  given,  they 
allege,  to  polygamy  and  concubinage;  an  opinion  also  which 
has  not  been  confined  to  Deists,  since  Dr.  Madan,  a  clergy- 
man of  the  Church  of  England,  published  a  well-known 
book  with  the  design  to  prove,  from  the  above  examples, 
that  polygamy  and  concubinage  are  allowable  to  Christians. 
But  the  objectors  contend,  that  worse  things  are  sanctioned 
even  than  these  ;  for  by  the  examples  of  Ehud  and  Jael, 
license  is  given  to  assassination.  The  former  was  one  of 
the  Judges,  raised  up,  it  is  said,  by  the  Lord,  to  deliver 
Israel  when  in  subjection  to  the  Moabites;  and  who,  under 
the  pretence  of  carrying  a  present  to  the  king  of  Moab, 
obtained  a  private  audience,  and  then  sheathed  a  dagger  in 
his  bowels. f  Jael  was  the  wife  of  Heber  the  Kenite  ;  and 
when  Sisera,  the  general  of  the  army  of  Jabin  king  of  Ha- 
zor,  was  defeated  by  Deborah  and  Barak,  "  he  fled  to  the 
tent  of  Jael  the  wife  of  Heber  the  Kenite  ;  for  there  was 
peace,"  it  is  expressly  said,  "  between  Jabin  the  king  of 
Hazor,  and  the  house  of  Heber  the  Kenite.  And  Jael  went 
out  to  meet  Sisera,  and  said  unto  him.  Turn  in  my  lord, 
turn  in  to  me  :  fear  not."      And  when  she  had  thus  invei- 

«  Gen.  xTvii.  6  to  29.  <  Judges,  iii.  15  to  22. 


THE    SCRIPTtTRES    ASSERTED,    &e.  27 

gled  him  into  her  power,  and  had  lulled  him  to  sleep,  she 
drove  a  nail  through  his  temples  :*  for  which  act,  it  is  said 
of  her  in  the  prophetic  song  of  Deborali  and  Barak,  "  Bless- 
ed above  women  shall  Jael  the  wife  of  Heber  the  Kenite 
be  ;  blessed  shall  she  be  above  women  in  the  tent."f  As 
for  the  scandals  to  which  the  conduct  of  David  has  given 
rise,  who,  though  called  the  man  after  God's  own  heart, J 
was  guilty  both  of  murder  and  adidtery  ;§  these  are  too 
painful  to  dwell  upon.  Moved  by  such  seeming  incongru- 
ities, the  Marcionites  and  Valentinians,  with  other  early 
sects  of  Gnostic  Christians,  regarded  the  God  of  the  Jews 
as  an  evil  genius, — as  "  the  prince  of  this  world,"  whose 
power  Jesus  came  to  destroy  :||  and  the  modern  Deists 
charge  Christians  with  blasphemy,  for  receiving  the  re- 
cord of  such  transactions  as  the  Word  of  God. 

The  last  class  of  Objections  against  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures, is  drawn  from  what  persons  uninformed  respecting 
their  true  nature,  deem  the  insigniiicaace  of  a  large  por- 
tion of  their  contents.  What  sort  of  ideas  (they  ask)  must 
we  form  of  the  Divine  Being,  on  the  supposition  that  he 
is  the  Author  of  the  Bible,  when  we  find  whole  books 
filled  with  directions  for  the  performance  of  ceremonies, 
which  in  themselves  can  be  of  no  importance  ;T[  when  we 
see  chapters  taken  up  with  precepts  respecting  what  sort 
of  food  his  servants  should  eat,  and  what  sort  of  clothing 
they  should  wear.**  What  minute  cares  must  we  suppose 
to  engage  his  breast,  when  we  see  him  giving  such  exact 
instructions  about  the  dimensions  of  the  Tabernacle,  and 
the  size  and  form  of  all  its  vessels  !jf  Wliat  useless  services 
must  we  imagine  him  to  be  pleased  with,  when  Ave  find 
him  commanding  such  a  variety  of  sacrifices  to  be  offered, 
and  giving  such   precise  orders  respecting  the  manner  in 

*  Judges,  iv.  17  to  21.        t  Ch.  v.  24.        t  1  Sam.  xiii.  14  :  Acts,  xiii.  22. 

§  2  Sam.  xi.  2,  15.  ||  John  xii.  31  ;  xiv.  31. 

^  Pee  Leviticus  throu^liout,  and  mufh  of  Exodus,  Numbers,  and  Deuter- 
onomv.  **  Levit.  xj.     Exod.  xxviij.  t+   Ex.  xxv.  to  xxxi. 


28  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

which  the  ininutest  part  of  the  rites  was  to  be  perform- 
ed !*  And  what  contracted  and  partial  attachments  and 
antipatliies  must  we  suppose  to  reign  in  his  bosom,  when 
we  behold  him  exhibiting  a  peculiar  regard  to  the  insig- 
nificant nation  of  the  Jews,f  to  the  exclusion  of  the  rest  of 
the  world  ;  or  when  we  hear  of  his  commissioning  proph- 
ets, with  all  the  solemnity  of  divine  authority,  to  denounce 
anathemas,  not  only  against  great  metropolitan  cities,  such 
as  Babylon,:]:  or  Nineveh, §  or  Damascus, ||  but  against  the 
insignificant  abodes  of  an  insigniiicant  population, — such 
as  the  villages  inhabited  by  the  tribes  of  Moab  and  Am- 
mon  m  Ca!i  tlie  Father  of  the  Universe  (they  demand) 
feel  such  concern,  and  command  it  to  be  Avritten  in  his 
Book  for  the  information  of  the  remotest  generations, 
about  the  domestic  affairs  of  nations  whose  very  name  was 
shortly  to  perish  from  the  earth, — about  the  condition  of 
cities  which  were  presently  to  crumble  into  dust,  and  con- 
found the  skill  of  geographers  to  decide  where  they  stood  ? 
Such  solicitudes  as  these  (our  opponents  will  allege)  might 
not  be  imbecoming  in  those  fancied  deities  of  the  ancient 
heathens,  who  were  supposed  merely  to  preside  over  par- 
ticular districts  ;  but  how  (they  ask)  can  we  conceive  them 
to  dwell  in  the  breast  of  your  great  I  Am,  the  High  and 
Lofty  One  that  inhabiteth  eternity,  the  Creator  of  myriads 
of  worlds  ? 

Such,  under  a  general  form,  are  the  strongest  objections 
which  the  adversaries  of  the  Scriptures  make  to  their 
divine  authority  ;  and  some  of  them,  it  must  be  candidly 
admitted,  are  such  as  to  embarrass  the  rational  incpiirer, 
who  enters  on  the  study  of  the  subject  without  a  correct 
idea  of  its  proper  bearing.  However,  plausible  as  they 
may  appear,  I  undertake  to  affirm,  and  hope  in  the  suc- 
ceedinii  lectures  to  make  g-ood  the  affirmation,  that  to 
adduce  from  such  considerations  an  argument  against  the 

*  Lev.  i.  to  vii.  &c.         t  Exod.  xix.  5.         i  Jer.  1.  li.         §  Jonah  i.  iii. 

I!  Amos  i.  iiL  ^  Jer.  xlviii.  xlix. 


TFIE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  29 

divine  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  is  entirely  to  mistake 
the  whole  nature  of  the  case  ;  that  tlie  aroument  thence 
deduced  falls  to  the  ground  of  itself,  as  soon  as  the  true 
nature  of  the  Word  of  God  is  seen,  and  the  design  is  re- 
garded for  which  it  was  given  to  mankind  ;  that,  in  fact, 
the  existence  of  such  things  in  the  Scriptures  as  we  have 
adverted  to,  affords  no  argument  at  all  when  adduced  to 
prove  that  they  have  no  origin  in  Divine  authority,  but 
yields  an  irrefragable  one  when  applied,  as  it  ought  to  be 
applied,  to  evince,  that  the  Scriptures  must  contain  much 
more  in  their  bosom  than  is  extant  upon  their  surface. 
We  propose  then  to  wrest  the  weapons  of  tlie  infidel  out 
of  his  hands,  and  make  them  assist  in  estal)lishing  this 
great  trutli  ;  to  prove  by  their  aid,  not  that  the  Scriptures 
are  not  the  Word  of  God,  but  that  they  are  ;  to  demon- 
strate by  their  help,  what  is  the  genuine  Divine  Style  of 
Writing — what  are  the  true  characteristics  of  a  Divine 
Co;mposition. 

I  will  conclude  at  present  with  exhorting  all  who  favour 
me  with  their  attention,  to  be  careful  to  cherish  such 
thoughts  of  God,  and  of  a  revelation  from  God,  as  are 
worthy  of  the  subject.  Let  us  above  all  things  be  on  our 
guard  how  we  lightly  fall  in  with  the  prevailing  infidelity 
of  the  times.  I  have  no  doubt  that  there  is  nothing  against 
which  the  Divine  Providence  is  more  anxious  to  preserve 
mankind,  (so  far  as  it  can  be  done  without  infringing  that 
freedom  without  w^hich  man  would  not  be  a  man,)  than 
from  falling  into  contempt  for  the  Holy  Word  :  and  that 
man  cannot  more  perversely  abuse  the  noble  powers  with 
which  he  is  endowed,  nor  run  more  directly  counter  to 
the  designs  of  his  Maker,  than  when  he  reasons  himself 
out  of  all  reverence  for  the  written  revelation  of  the  Di- 
vine Will.  Little  as  it  may  generally  be  snj)po?ed,  the 
Holy  Word  is  the  chief  medium  of  communication  be- 
tween man  and  heaven,  and  indeed  between  man  and  God  ; 


so  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

which  communication  is  cut  off,  and  man  falls  into  a 
merely  natural  an;'  animal  state,  in  proportion  as  he  re- 
gards with  contempt  this  highest  and  best  of  his  Maker's 
gifts.  Confirmed  infidelity — such  as  extends  to  scorn  and 
hatred  against  revelation — is  in  most  cases  the  result  of 
depravitj'  of  heart  ;  how  speciously  soever  this  may  be 
glossed  over  before  the  world  by  subtle  reasonings,  and 
a  proud  display  of  merely  natural,  superficial  virtues  ; 
though  indeed  even  this  covering  is  cast  away  by  some  of 
the  present  race  of  Deists  and  Atheists  :  whose  works  ex- 
hibit such  malignity  of  disposition,  as  sufficiently  evinces 
the  foulness  of  the  source  whence  their  sentiments  issue. 
Most  true  is  the  saying  of  the  Apostle  ;  that  •'  if  the  gospel 
be  hid," — (finally,  that  is ; — for  we  are  not  to  judge 
harshly  of  those  who,  with  sincere  intentions,  are  embar- 
rassed by  honest  doubt, — )  "  it  is  hid  to  them  that  are 
lost  :" — that  is,  to  those  who  are  so  enslaved  to  woildly 
and  selfish  lusts,  as  to  be  unwilling  to  hear  any  thing, 
which,  by  calling  them  to  higher  pursuits,  would  disturb 
them  in  their  sleep  of  darkness  and  of  death.  I  make  not 
these  remarks  with  any  wish  to  intimidate  : — the  freedom 
of  the  rational  faculty  in  the  present  age  is  too  complete 
to  admit  of  intimidation  : — but  I  make  them  to  induce 
those  whose  tendency  to  scepticism  has  not  settled  into 
confirmed  negation,  fairly  to  weigh  both  sides  of  the  ques- 
tion before  they  decide,  and  to  go  into  the  incpiiry  with 
that  solemnity  of  attention  which  is  reasonable,  where  so 
much  is  at  stake.  These  I  would  entreat  especially  to  re- 
gard that  assurance  of  Jesus  Christ,  so  consonant  to  pure 
reason, — that  rectitude  and  purity  of  object  in  making  our 
inquiries,  is  the  best  preservative  against  error  in  drawing 
our  conclusions  :  "  If  any  man,",  says  he,  "  will  do  His 
will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be  of 
God."*     This  is  tiie  only   safe  rule,  where  the  thing  in- 

*  John  vii.  17. 


THE     SCRIPTURKS    ASSERTED,    &C.  31 

quired  into  is  religious  truth  :  and  my  conviction  is,  that 
they  who  act  in  the  spirit  of  this  rule  will  find  their  rever- 
ence for  the  Holy  Word  continually  increase,  and  their 
understanding  of  its  contents  continually  improve,  till 
they  are  satisfied  that,  like  the  Word  incarnate,  it  "  pro- 
ceeded forth  and  came  from  God." 


LECTURE  II. 


THE  TRUE  NATURE  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES  CONSIDERED. 

Design  with  which  the  Scriptures  were  given,  and  the  JVature  of 
their  Composition,  stated  for  proof.  I.  That  the  title  "  the 
Word  of  God,''''  and  the  Plenary  Inspiration  which  that  title 
implies,  are  claimed  by  the  Scriptures ;  and  that  this  is  recog- 
nized by  many  critics.  II.  Proofs,  from  rational  and  philo- 
sophical grounds,  that  a  Composition  which  is  really  "  the 
Word  of  God,''''  must  contain  stores  of  wisdom  in  its  bosom, 
independently  of  any  thing  that  appears  on  the  surface.  III. 
That  the  Composition  received  as  the  Word  of  God,  contin- 
ually assures  us  that  it  is  inwardly  replenished  with  such  ivis- 
dom  ; — 1 .  This  intimated  by  the  writers  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment ; — 2.  Expressly  declared  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ; — 
3.  And  by  his  Apostles: — 4.  Gerierally  believed  by  the 
Christian  Church,  for  many  ages,  from  the  Apostles  doivn 
wards,  and  still  recognized  by  the  best  Interpreters.  IV.  But 
this  great  truth  having  been  abused,  that  endeavours  have  been 
made,  during  the  last  two  or  three  Centuries,  to  restrict  the 
meaning  of  the  Scriptures  to  their  literal  sense  alone.  Ad- 
mitted, that  all  Points  of  Faith  are  to  be  established  by  the 
literal  sense :  But  that  the  objection  against  a  further  sense 
would  fall  to  the  ground,  could  it  be  shewn,  that  the  Scriptures 
are  xvritten  throughout  according  to  an  immutable  Laio  or 
Rule,  a  knowledge  of  which  loould,  in  explaining  them,  sub- 
stitute certainty  for  conjecture,  and  cut  off  the  sources  of  vague 
interpretation. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    SiC.  33 

In  our  opening  Lecture  we  took  a  brief  view  of  the  pre- 
sent state  of  public  opinion,  on  the  subject  of  the  divine 
inspiration  of  the  Word  of  God,  or  Holy  Scriptures  ;  and 
we  have  seen  that,  while  absolute  infidelity  is  at  present 
more  prevalent  throughout  Christendom  than  at  any  for- 
mer period  since  the  establishment  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion ;  while  the  attacks  upon  the  credibility  of  tlie  Chris- 
tian revelation  were  never  so  unremitted  and  daring  ;  the 
cause  has  been  half  betrayed  by  many  of  its  advocates,  in 
the  lax  notions  wliich  they  inculcate  respecting  the  nature 
of  Scriptural  inspiration.  We  also  drew  a  faint  picture  of 
what  must  be  the  character  of  a  composition  which  has 
God  for  its  Author  ;  we  stated  the  four  leading  classes  of 
objections  by  which  infidels  deny  tliis  character  to  belong 
to  the  writings  called  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  and  we  ad- 
vanced it  as  a  fact,  to  be  afterwards  proved,  that  all  diffi- 
culties would  disappear,  were  the  true  nature  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  distinctly  understood,  and  the  design  for 
which  they  were  given  fully  discerned.  What  this  design 
was,  we  now  proceed  to  state. 

When  well-meaning  men  have  been  induced  to  make  the 
admission,  that  the  sacred  writers  might  not,  on  all  occa- 
sions, be  inspired,  it  has  been  in  consequence  of  not  con- 
sidering, any  more  than  the  opposers  to  whose  railings 
they  have  so  far  yielded,  what  was  the  sole  design  for 
which  the  divinely  inspired  volume  M-^as  composed. 
Things,  for  example,  that  appear  like  contradictions,  have 
in  some  places  been  pointed  out  ;  and  though  most  of  these 
admit  of  being  satisfactorily  answered  even  in  the  literal 
sense,  yet,  because  some  of  them,  if  we  confine  our  atten- 
tion to  the  literal  sense  alone,  are  attended  with  real  diffi- 
culty, many,  even  of  the  sinceie  friends  of  Christianity, 
have  admitted,  that  the  Scriptures  may,  in  some  instances, 
have  proceeded  from  fallible  authors, — from  penmen  who 
were  not  at  all  times  inspired  !  This  admission  they  have 
5 


94  PLENART     INSPIRATION     OF" 

made,  to  open  a  door  for  retreat,  in  case  any  of  the  state- 
ments made  in  the  letter  shoukl  be  proved  by  an  adversa- 
ry to  be  indefensible.  But  surely  had  it  been  considered, 
that  whatever  proceeds  immediately  from  God,  in  the 
nature  of  a  commurJcation  of  his  will,  must  be  spiritual 
and  divine,  and  that  the  sole  design  of  it,  in  every  part, 
must  be,  to  improve  man  in  the  wisdom  of  salvation  ;  it 
would  have  been  seen,  that  merely  historical  circum- 
stances, however  important  to  the  actors  in  them,  can 
never  be  of  such  moment  in  the  eyes  of  an  Infinite  Being, 
as  that  the  communication  of  even  the  most  correct  know- 
ledge respecting  them  can  be  a  thing  to  have  place  in  his 
express  Word  of  revealed  Wisdom,  unless  things  of  far 
hiorher  consequence  be  at  the  same  time  referred  to  and 
represented  by  them.  Hence,  when  we  find  such  things 
spoken  of  in  a  book  which  its  Divine  Author  assures  us 
was  given  from  Him,  and  which  bears  so  many  marks, 
both  internal  and  external,  that  evince  the  truth  of  this 
assurance  ;  we  ought  to  be  satisfied,  that  things  of  far 
liigher,  even  of  eternal  moment,  are  shadowed  forth,  and 
represented  to  us,  under  these  historical  relations  ; — as  we 
shall  see  presently  is  also  expressly  declared  by  the  Lord 
and  his  Apostles.  In  sliort,  we  ought  to  conclude,  (as  we 
shall  find  both  reason  and  Scripture  assure  us  must  be  the 
ca?e  with  every  composition  that  has  God  for  its  Author,) 
that  in  the  Sacred  Scri]jtures  tiierc  is  an  internal  or  spir- 
itual sense,  distinct  from  the  letter,  but  contained  within 
it,  and  no  otherwise  capable  of  being  conveyed  to  human 
beings  in  this  v;orld  of  nature  ;  which  spiritual  tense  must 
treat,  not  of  natural  things,  but  of  spiritual  ;  not  of  things 
relating  to  the  body  of  man  and  his  transitory  life,  but  to 
his  soul  and  life  eternal  :  and  we  ought  to  conclude  fur- 
ther, that  although  tlie  historical  circumstances  detailed 
in  the  literal  sense  are  in  general  substanti-illy  true,  having 
occurred  as  they  are  related,  yet  if  there  are  any  of  them 
that  are  in  any  respect  contradictory,  the  reason  must  be, 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  33 

not  because  the  narrative  is  not  divinely  inspired,  but  be- 
cause the  letter  has  been  forced,  in  such  instances,  to  bend 
a  little,  as  it  were,  under  tlie  weight  of  the  important 
matters  contained  within  it,  to  express  which  more  fully,  a 
slight  turn  has  been  given  to  the  literal  narration.  Nor  is 
there,  in  this  supposition,  tiie  smailest  degree  of  inconsis- 
tency. For  every  composition,  either  human  or  divine, 
must  be  judged  of,  according  as  it  is  adapted  to  express 
the  Desijrn  of  the  Author.  But  a  revelation  from  God 
cannot  be  designed  to  improve  us  in  natural  knowledge, 
but  in  heavenly  or  spiritual.  If  then  the  literal  sense  of 
the  Holy  Word  is  so  adjusted,  as  to  be  a  proper  vehicle 
for  the  divine  realities  of  a  spiritual  kind  with  which  it  is 
inwardly  replenished,  it  answers  tlie  Design  for  which  it 
was  given,  whether  the  literal  expression,  regarded  by  it- 
self, be  in  all  respects  perfectly  coherent  or  not  ; — whether 
the  historical  occurrences,  respecting  which,  regarded  by 
themselves,  it  is  no  part  of  tlie  Divine  Author's  plan  to 
communicate  information,  are  detailed  with  all  possible 
clearness  or  not.  In  short,  if  the  Design  for  which  a  reve- 
lation from  God  must  be  given,  had  been  ste:u]ily  kept  in 
view,  and  the  outward  expression  had  been  judged  of  ac- 
cordingly, it  would  have  been  seen  that  the  Word  of  God 
does,  in  every  part,  contain  a  spiritual  sense,  which  treats 
solely  of  the  Lord,  his  kingdom,  man's  soul,  and  his  im- 
provement in  heavenly  graces,  and  that  the  literal  sense  is 
constructed  purely  in  subserviency  to  the  spiritual  :  and 
then  the  objections  against  its  divine  inspiration  would 
never  have  been  raised,  or,  if  they  had,  would  soon  have 
obtained  a  completely  satisfactory  answer.  To  evince 
that  this  is  its  true  character,  will  be  the  main  object  of 
this  and  our  subsequent  Lectures. 

I.  The  first  thing  necessary  to  the  clearing  up  of  this 
argument,  is,  to  ascertain,  what  is  the  kind  of  inspiration 
which  the  Scriptures  claim  for  themselves. 


8S,  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OP 

Here  then  the  fact,  that  the  title,  "  the  Word  of  God," 
is  claimed  by  the  Scriptures  for  themselves,  is  alone  suffi- 
cient to  satisfy  us,  that  they  assume  to  have  been  written 
by  a  plenary  divine  inspiration.  For  what  can  "the 
Word  of  God"  be,  but  divine  speech  or  revelation  flowing 
from  God  ?  And  if  this  is  given  us  by  the  instrumentality 
of  men,  then  must  they,  so  to  give  it  us,  have  been  divine- 
ly inspired  : — otherwise  what  they  wrote  would  not  be 
the  Word  of  God,  but  the  word  of  men, — of  illuminated 
men,  perhaps,  but  whose  writings  could  convey  nothing 
more  than  they  themselves  conceiv^ed  and  apprehended — 
the  mere  sentiments  of  the  writers. 

1.  That  the  books  of  Moses  claim  to  be  the  Word  of  God, 
is  expressed  by  its  being  so  repeatedly  said,  that  "  the 
Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  saying,"*  and  also,  that  "  Moses 
wrote  ail  tlie  words  of  the  Lord  :"f  and  whoever  has  look- 
ed into  the  writings  of  the  prophets,  knows  how  often 
they  make  the  declaration,  "  The  word  of  the  Lord  came 
unto  me,  saying.  "| 

2.  But  that  the  title  "Word  of  God"  is  properly  ap- 
plied to  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  is  evinced  by  the  use  of  the 
expression  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself.  Speaking  of 
the  law  written  by  Moses,  he  first  observes,  "  For  Moses 
said,  Honour  thy  father  and  mother  :  and.  Whoso  curseth 
father  or  mother,  let  him  die  the  death  :"  and  then  he 
adds,  "  But  ye  say.  If  a  man  shall  say  to  his  father  or  his 
mother,  It  is  Corban,  that  is  to  say,  a  gift,  by  whatsoever 
thou  mightest  be  profited  by  me,  lie  shall  be  free  ;  and  ye 
sufler  him  no  more  to  do  ought  for  his  father  or  his  mo- 
ther  ;  making  the  Word  of  God  of  none  effect  through  your 
tradition. "§  Thus  we  see  that  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old 
Testament,  which  we  may  be  sure  do  not  rank  higher 
than  those  of  the   New,  are  denominated,  by  the  highest 

'  See  almost  every  Chapter  in  Exodus,  Leviticus,  and  Numbers. 

(  Exod.  xxiv.  4.     t  See  the  Prophets  throughout.      §  Mark  vii.  10  to  13. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  37 

authority,  "  the  Word  of  God  :"  of  course  they  must  have 
been  given  by  a  plenary  divine  inspiration. 

The  same  expression  is  used  again,  and  the  idea  convey- 
ed by  it  affirmed  of  all  that  is  properly  called  "the  Scrip- 
ture," in  another  debate  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  the 
Jews.  When  they  were  about  to  stone  him  for  having 
said,  "  I  and  the  Father  are  One,"  he  reasoned  with  them 
thus  :  "  Is  it  not  written  in  your  law,  I  said.  Ye  are  gods  .'' 
If  he  called  them  gods  to  whom  the  Word  of  God  came, — 
and  the  Scripture  cannot  be  broken, — say  ye  of  him,"*  &c. 
Here,  not  only  is  the  revelation  communicated  to  the  Jews 
called  by  its  real  Author,  "  the  Word  of  God,"  but  it  is 
authoritatively  declared,  that  "  the  Scripture  cannot  be 
broken  ;"  where  the  word  "  broken"  is  admitted  by  the 
Commentators  to  be  idiomatic,  the  meaning  being,  that 
the  Scripture  is  not  to  be  contradicted  or  denied, — that  its 
authority  is  not  to  be  infringed.  The  purport  of  the 
clause,  then,  paraphrased  into  familiar  language,  is  clearly 
this  :  "  If  he  called  them  gods  to  whom  the  Word  of  God 
came — and  this  you  cannot  deny,  because  the  authority  of  the 
Scriptures  is  unimpeachable, — say  ye  of  him,"  &c.  Thus 
then  the  revelation  given  to  the  Jews  is  recognized  by 
"  the  Word  made  flesh,"  as  the  Word  of  God  ;  and  the  at- 
tributes of  that  Word  are  assigned  to  what  is  emphatically 
called  the  Scripture,  which  is  declared,  on  this  ground,  to 
be,  what  no  partially  inspired  composition  can  be,  abso- 
lutely infallible, — an  authority  which,  on  no  pretence 
whatever,  is  to  be  impugned.  The  same  sanction,  con- 
veyed by  the  same  expression,  is  given  by  Jesus  Christ  to 
*'  the  law  and  the  prophets."  or  to  the  whole  of  the  an- 
cient Scriptures,  when  he  says,  after  referring  to  them, 
"  Whosoever  therefore  shall  break  one  of  the  least  of  these 
commandments,  and  shall  teach  men  so,  he  shall  be  called 
the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven."!      Here,    to    break 

"  John  X.  34,  35,  t  Matt.  v.  19. 


33  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

one  of  the  least  of  the  commandments  of  the  law  and  the 
j)ropliets,  does  not  mean  merely  to  live  in  the  neglect  of 
it,  but  to  weaken  its  authority  :  the  word  in  the  oiiginal 
is  the  same  as  in  the  passage  just  quoted  from  John,  and 
means  literally  to  loosen,  or  dissolve,  that  is,  to  take  away  its 
obligation.  The  unlawftdness  of  this,  we  find,  in  regard  to 
t!ie  least  of  the  commandments  of  all  the  law  and  the  pro- 
phets, Jems  Christ  most  decidedly  affirms  :  what  then  are 
we  to  think  of  those  who  tell  us,  that  "  it  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  they  [meaning  Moses  and  the  prophets,]  were 
even  thus  inspired  [meaning,  even  according  to  the  lowest 
notions  of  inspiration,]  in  every  fact  which  tliey  related, 
or  in  every  precept  uCich  they  delivered.''''  Did  not  Bishop 
Tomline  see,  when  he  penned  these  awful  words,  that  he 
was  herein  "  loosing,"  or  destroying  the  authority  of,  at 
any  rate,  some  of  "the  least  of  the  commandments,"  and 
was  thus  setting  his  authority  in  opposition  to  tiie  authori- 
ty of  Jesus  Christ,  w!io  so  solemnly  recognizes  the  whole 
as  the  immovable  Word  of  God. 

3.  But  perhaps  it  maybe  objected,  that  the  title,  "Word 
of  God,"  is  nevertheless  only  applicable  to  such  parts  of 
the  Scriptures  as  contain  precepts  expressly  delivered  in 
the  name  of  God.  We  do  not.  however,  find  that  Jesus 
Christ  makes  any  such  distinction  ;  so  that  we  have  divine 
authority  for  denying  that  any  such  distinction  exists. 
Besides,  what  a  door  for  uncertainty  would  tliis  throw 
open  !  If  the  writers  who  recorded  those  precepts  which 
they  deliver  in  the  name  of  God,  were  not  inspired 
tliroughout,  they  might  as  easily  err  in  this  part  of  their 
duty  as  in  any  other  ;  and  thus  it  would  he  impossible  for 
us  to  know  v/hether  what  they  delivered  as  divine  pre- 
cejjts  Ave  re  really  such  or  not.  However,  we  are  not  left 
to  decide  this  question  by  our  own  reasonings  ;  for,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  unlimiting  declarations  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Apostle  Paid  gives  us  the  strongest  assurance  we  can  pos- 
sibly require,  as  to  the  entire   inspiration   of   the   whole. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &,C.  39 

He  says,  "  ./3/Z  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God:"* 
and  it  is  here  to  bj  noted,  that  the  five  words,  "  given  by 
inspiration  of  God,"  have  but  oi:e  word  [tio'TrvsuoTcg], 
answering  to  tiiein  in  the  original  ;  and  that  is  one  so  ex- 
pressive, that  it  conveys  all  that  our  translators  have  stat- 
ed, with  that  addition  of  force  which  results  from  con- 
densation. A  single  word  mi«[ht  be  framed  in  English  to 
eonvey  the  same  meaning,  but  it  would  sound  harsh,  as 
being  unusual  :  we  however  might  say,  "  All  scripture  is 
God-breathed  :"  which  indeed  is  just  the  same  in  sense  as 
"  given  by  inspiration  of  God  ;"  only  the  word  "  inspira- 
tion," being  derived  from  a  Latin,  and  not  an  English 
root,  does  not  convey  to  English  ears  the  primary  mean- 
ing that  belongs  to  it,  wliich  is  that  of  breathing-in.  No- 
thing then  can  be  more  conclusive  than  this  passage  for 
the  full  inspiration  of  the  wliole  of  the  Word  of  God.  All 
Scripture  was  inspired,  or  breathed-into  the  writers^  by  God, 
— was  the  result  of  a  divine  ajficitiis,  which  took  such  en- 
tire possession  of  the  inspired  penmen,  that  it  was  not  they 
who  wrote,  further  than  as  to  the  mere  motion  of  the  fin- 
gers, but  God  himself  who  wrote  with  their  hands.  This 
is  what  is  included  in  the  idea  of  "  inspiration  of  God  ;" 
and  to  restrict  it  to  any  thing  short  of  tliis,  is  to  charge 
the  Apostle  with  having  spoken  at  random,  without  un- 
derstanding the  meaning  of  his  language. 

Paul  however  docs  not  stand  alo  e  in  this  testimony. 
He  is  supported  in  it  by  Peter,  who  affirms  the  same 
doctrine,  though  in  quite  different  terms.  "  Prophecy," 
says  he,  "came  not  in  old  time  by  the  will  of  man,  but 
holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghosty^  It  is  here  to  be  remembered,  that  the  Jews 
called  the  \vriters  of  the  historical  books  "  prophets,"  as 
well  as  those  of  what  we  call  the  prophetical  books  ;  as  is 
known  to  every  one  who  has  seen  a  Hebrew  bible.     Now 

*  2  Tim.  iii.  16.  t  2  Ep.  i.  21. 


40  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

of  all  these  holy  men,  the  Apostle  affirms,  that  they  spake, 
not  by  the  will  of  man,  hut  as  they  were  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost  :  clearly  excluding  their  own  will,  and  of 
course  their  own  understanding,  from  any  concern  in  the 
matter.  And  here  also  it  will  be  useful  to  attend  to  the 
force  of  the  principal  original  word.  The  Greek  term 
[<ps^o(xsvoi]  translated  "  moved,"  is  one  that  conveys  a 
much  stronger  idea  tlian  that  of  the  gentle  sort  of  impres- 
sion to  which  we  apply  the  term  "  moved  :"  it  means  car- 
ried away^ — rapt, — transported  ; — taken  altogetlier  out  of 
themselves,  and  possessed  entirely  by  the  power  of  God. 
So  positive  is  the  language  of  the  heaven-taught  writers 
on  the  subject  of  divine  inspiration  ;  and  so  decisive  is  the 
testimony  which  Ihey  bear  to  the  plenary  inspiration  of 
the  Sacred  Scriptures. 

Such  being  the  strength  and  unequivocal  nature  of  the 
expressions  in  which  the  inspiration  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures is  affirmed  by  infallible  authority,  it  really  seems  ex- 
traordinary how  they  who  undertake  to  explain  the  divine 
books,  should  ever  have  thought  of  limiting  their  inspira- 
tion to  so  low  a  degree  of  it,  as  is  unworthy  of  the  name 
altogether  :  and  it  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  the  rea- 
son before  assigned  ;  that  being  pressed  by  the  Deist  with 
the  difficulties  which  some  passages  present,  and  not  re- 
flecting that  these  should  lead  to  a  higher  mode  of  inter- 
pretation,  the  Christian  advocates  have  seen  no  way  of 
maintaining  the  general  credibility  of  the  saci*ed  penmen, 
but  by  allowing  their  liability  to  little  mistakes.  It  would 
however  be  but  a  sorry  expedient  for  the  preservation  of 
a  country  situated  like  Holland,  when  threatened  with  an 
inundation  from  the  fury  of  the  ocean,  should  they  who 
have  the  care  of  the  dykes,  fearing  lest  these  should  be 
washed  away,  purposely  make  a  gap  in  them,  as  a  means 
of  averting  the  destructive  eifects  of  the  waves  :  here, 
every  one  sees,  that  the  country,  though  in  a  more  gradual 
manner,    would    equally   be   drowned  ;   but   the   dykes, 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &:C.  41 

though  no  longer  of  any  use,  might  possibly  be  preserved. 
By  admitting  only  such  an  inspiration  as  does  not  exclude 
fallibility,  religious  establishments  may  perhaps  for  a  time 
be  preserved  :  but  the  o])jects  for  which  they  were  insti- 
tuted will  be  undermined  and  subverted.  Infidelity  will 
be  confirmed  and  extended  ;  and  tlie  Faith  that  remains, 
being  emptied  of  its  spirituality,  will  differ  from  infidelity 
in  little  but  in  name.  Religion  will  degenerate  into  a  cold 
morality,  which  Deism  may  supply  almost  as  well. 

4.  Such  laxity,  however,  did  not  characterize  the  senti- 
ments of  former  times.  Tliough  now  it  is  otherwise,  the 
general  belief  once  was,  that  inspiration  really  is  inspira- 
tion ;  and  they  W'ho  wrote  upon  it  did  not  attempt  to  de- 
fine the  tking,  to  be  something  entirely  different  from  what 
is  expressed  by  the  name.  This  might  be  proved  by  to- 
pious  evidence,  if  necessary  ;  but  it  will  be  quite  sufiicient 
here  to  give  the  statements  of  Bishop  Marsh,  in  the  Notes 
to  the  third  Chapter  of  his  translation  of  Michaelis  ;  for 
though  he  had  such  low  ideas  of  the  nature  of  inspiration, 
at  least  as  far  as  regards  the  inspiration  of  the  Evangelists, 
when  he  formed  his  singular  theory  of  the  origin  of  the 
three  first  gospels,  he  seems,  when  he  translated  the  first 
part  of  the  Work  just  mentioned,  which  was  several  years 
previously,  to  have  been  inclined  to  favour  the  higher 
views  of  the  subject  :  at  least  he  had,  and  has,  too  much 
integrity  to  keep  them  out  of  sight.  He  there,  complain- 
ing of  his  Author  for  not  himself  givins;  a  definition  of  In- 
spiration,  says,  that  "  some  understand  an  inspiration  of 
"words,  as  well  as  ideas,  others  of  ideas  alone  ;  a  third  class 
understand  by  inspiration  an  intervention  of  the  Deity,  by 
which  the  natural  faculties  of  the  sacred  writers  were  di- 
rected to  the  discovery  of  truth  ;  and  a  fourth  class  assume 
a  kind  of  negative  intervention,  by  which  they  were  p.e- 
vented  from  falhng  into  matei  ial  error  :  son.e  again  as- 
sume a  total  inspiration,  declaiing  that  the  supernatural 
influence  of  the  Deity  was  extended  to  tlie  most  minute 
6 


43  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

historical  accounts,  while  others  suppose  that  it  was  con- 
fined to  certain  parts  of  Scripture."  And,  as  the  authori- 
ties for  the  opinion,  that  inspiration  extends  both  to  words 
and  ideas,  he  gives  "  most  of  the  German  divines  of  the 
last  [or  seventeenth]  century,  and  many  in  the  present" 
[the  eighteenth — for  this  was  written  in  1793].  The  au- 
thor whom  he  translates, — Michaelis, — seems  very  unset- 
tled in  his  own  mind,  both  respecting  what  he  should  de- 
termine inspiration  to  be,  and  what  books  in  the  Bible  he 
should  regard  as  possessing  it  ;  it  appears,  however,  that 
where  it  exists  at  all,  he  thought  it  must  be  plenaiy,  ap- 
plying to  this  subject  a  passage  of  Paul,  which  in  our 
translation  stands  thus  :  "  We  speak  not  in  words  which 
man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teach- 
eth,  comparing  natural  things  with  spiritual  :"*  which  de- 
claration he  renders  thus  :  "  We  deliver  doctrines  in  words 
taught  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  explaining  inspired  things  with 
inspired  words."  I  do  not  quote  this  version  by  Michae- 
lis as  adopting  it,  or  as  accepting  his  application,  in  the 
context,  of  the  doctrine  he  appears  to  mean  to  deduce 
from  it  ;  but  only  as  evidence  of  what  this  great  scho- 
lar's opinion  of  inspiration  really  was  :  hereupon  Bishop 
Marsh  justly  remarks,  "  It  seems,  then,  that  he  under- 
stands a  verbal  inspiration^  agreeably  to  the  sentiments  of  many 
ancient  Fathers^  and  many  modern  divines,  who  have  considered 
the  Jipostles  and  Evangelists  merely  as  passive  instruments.  It 
is  true,"  the  Bishop  adds,  (and  we  shall  consider  the  sen- 
timent in  the  sequel,)  "that  this  hypothesis  renders  it  dif- 
ficult to  account  for  the  great  variety  of  style  observable 
in  the  Greek  Testament  :  on  the  other  hand,  several  writ- 
ers, especially  Ernesti,  contend,  that  it  is  difficult  to  ab- 
stract an  inspiration  of  ideas  from  an  inspiration  of  words." 
Assuredly,  it  is  difficult  :  and  this  avowal  from  the  cele- 
brated Erneiti,  will  perhaps  be  felt  as  the  more  valuable, 

•  1  Cor.  iv.  13. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  43 

when  it  is  remeinbereil,  that  he  was  by  no  means  uninfect- 
ed, on  some  points,  with  the  lax  principles  of  the  moderns  ; 
so  that  his  testimony  in  favour  of  plenary  inspiration,  must 
be  considered  as  drawn  from  him  by  the  unassisted  force 
of  truth.  I  will  only  add  further  upon  this  question,  that 
what  tlie  sentiments  of  profoundly  learned  British  divines 
formerly  were  respecting  it,  is  sufficiently  indicated  in  the 
maxim  adopted  by  Pococke,  and  prefixed  as  a  motto  to 
the  Mtce  Miscellanece,  appended  to  his  Porta  Mosis  of  Mai- 
monides  :  it  is  this  :  "  There  is  not  in  the  Law  or  Holy 
Scripture  a  single  letter,  on  which  matters  of  the  greatest 
importance  [in  the  Hebrew,  great  mountains,]  are  not  de- 
pendent."* 

These  testimonies,  I  trust,  will  be  sufficient  to  show  that 
many  writers,  and  those  of  the  highest  authority,  have 
heretofore  believed,  that  when  Jesus  Christ  terms  the 
Scripture  the  Word  of  God,  and  declares  that  it  must  not 
be  broken,  or  its  authority  impeached  ;  and  when  the 
Apostles  assure  us  that  it  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God, 
and  that  those  who  wrote  it  were  carried  out  of  them- 
selves by  the  Divine  Spirit  that  possessed  them  ;  they 
really  mean  what  they  say  : — those,  therefore,  who  may 
now  be  disposed  to  believe  that  they  mean  what  they  say, 
will  find  a  cloud  of  witnesses  to  support  them.  It  is  true, 
that,  at  present,  the  fashion  of  the  times  runs  the  other 
way  ;  but  it  is  not  a  new  thing  for  heaven  and  the  world 
to  stand  in  opposition  :  and,  on  this  point,  the  authorities 
are  sufficiently  great  and  numerous  to  render  the  profes- 
sion of  the  truth  honourable  in  the  eyes  of  men,  as  well  as 
in  the  sight  of  God. 

This  question,  respecting  the  nature  of  the  inspiration 
which  the  Scriptures  claim  for  themselves,  though  of  the 
greatest  moment  to  the  Christian,  will  be  little  regarded 
by  the  Deist  :    it  was,   however,  necessary  to  consider  it, 

D^S-n:!  Dnnn  ^l^*  nas*  r\)H  h^^  mim  pN*  * 


44  PLENARY   INSPIRATION    OF 

because  we  shall  find  it   pregnant  with  consequences,  in 
which  the  Deist  also  is  deeply  interested. 

II.  It  being  then  certain,  that  the  Scriptures  claim  to  be 
**  the  Word  of  God,"  accordinor  to  the  full  meaning  of  that 
weighty  expression  ;  and  it  being  likewise  true  that  many 
of  the  greatest  biblical  scholars  deemed  the  claim  thus 
made  by  the  Scriptures  too  positive  to  be  evaded,  so  that 
we  must  as  much  believe  them,  when  they  assert  their  own 
plenary  inspiration,  as  when  they  assert  any  thing  else  : 
we  beg  to  be  allowed  to  ai-sume,  for  the  present,  for  argu- 
ment's sake,  that  they  really  are  the  Word  of  God  :  and 
with  this  admission,  we  proceed  to  offer  proofs,  from  ra- 
tional and  philosophical  grounds,  that,  if  so,  they  must 
contain  stores  of  wisdom  in  their  bosom,  independently  of 
any  thing  that  appears  on  their  surface. 

If  the  Bible  could,  throughout,  be  understood,  and 
would,  in  every  part,  afford  a  clear,  intelligible,  and  in- 
structive meaning,  by  consulting  the  literal  or  grammati- 
cal sense  of  the  words  and  phrases  alone  ;  or  if  by  thus  re- 
stricting our  researches  after  its  meaning,  we  could  always 
obtain  as  clear  a  one  as  is  to  be  drawn  from  the  works  of 
unin^-pired  writers  ;  there  would  then  be  more  reason  (but 
by  no  means  snflicient)  for  contending,  tliat  it  never  was 
meant  to  contain  any  thing  moie  :  but  when  we  find  in  it 
passages,  to  which,  xmless  we  allow  them  an  internal  sense, 
we  must  deny  any  intelligible  sense  at  all  ; — we  surely 
must  reje.t  the  notion,  that  the  literal  sense  is  all  that  is 
intended, — a  notion  so  derogatory  to  the  divine  inspira- 
tion of  the  Sacred  AV'i  itings,  and  which,  if  suffered  to  re- 
gidate  our  views  of  them  entirely,  would  compel  us  to 
think  less  highly  of  the  Word  of  God,  than  we  do  of  ma- 
ny of  the  comj)ositions  of  men.  However,  I  do  not  mean 
to  beg  the  question,  but  to  shew  that  the  possession  of 
stores  of  hidden  wisdom,  is  not  only  necessary  to  vindi- 
cate for  the  Scriptures  their  title  of  the  Word  of  God,  but 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &LC.  45 

is  an  inseparable  characteristic  of  every  Divine  Composi- 
tion ;  that  without  it,  no  writing  whatever,  were  its  out- 
ward form  just  what  the  sceptic  would  require,  (would  he 
define  what  that  is,)  can  be  entitled  to  that  appellation. 

Who  then  does  not  see,  that  the  difference  between 
Compositions  that  are  really  the  Word  of  God  and  the 
compositions  of  men,  must  be  as  great,  as  between  the 
works  of  God  and  the  works  of  men  ?  And  wherein  does 
the  latter  difference  most  remarkably  consist  ?  Is  it  not  in 
the  interior  organization  which  the  works  of  God  possess, 
beyond  what  appears  in  their  outward  form  ?  When  we 
look  at  a  picture  or  a  statue,  which  are  among  the  most 
exquisite  productions  of  human  ingenuity,  after  we  have 
seen  the  surface,  we  have  seen  the  whole  :  and  although 
there  are  pieces  of  curious  mechanism  which  contain  a 
complication  of  parts  within  their  outside  case,  this  only 
carries  us  one  step  farther  :  when  we  look  at  any  of  the 
parts,  we  see  the  whole  ; — the  interior  texture  of  the  ma- 
terial of  which  they  are  composed  not  being  the  work  of 
the  human  artist,  but  of  the  Divine  Creator.  Whereas, 
when  we  look  at  any  of  the  works  of  His  omnipotent 
hand,  beautiful  and  exact  as  they  are  in  their  outAvard 
form,  still  the  most  beautiful  and  wonderful  parts  of  them 
are  within.  Some  of  these  hidden  wonders  are  discovera- 
ble to  the  diligent  inquirer  by  means  of  dissections  and  by 
the  aid  of  glasses  :  but  when  the  most  ingenious  investiga- 
tor has  extended  his  researches  into  the  interior  construc- 
tion of  any  natural  production  to  the  utmost  limits  that 
human  means  can  conduct  him,  he  must,  if  he  is  a  wise 
man,  be  convinced,  that  what  he  has  thus  discovered,  is, 
after  all,  but  general  and  superficial,  compared  with  the 
greater  wonders  which  still  lie  concealed  within.  The 
most  expert  anatomist  never,  for  instance,  reached  the  seat 
of  the  soul, — still  less  the  principle  of  consciousness  and  life 
of  which  the  soul  itself  is  meiely  the  organ  ;  all  which,  and 
even  the  material  forms  which   are  their  first  envelopes. 


46  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

still  lie  beyond  the  most  subtile  form  that  the  gross  obser- 
vation of  the  senses  can  discover.  The  farther,  however, 
the  observation  of  the  senses  can  extend,  the  greater  are 
the  wonders  which  appear.  Just  so  it  is  with  the  Word 
of  God  :  and  so  it  must  be,  if  it  has  in  reality  God  for  its 
Author. 

An  attention  to  one  or  two  more  unquestionable  truths, 
will  make  this  fact  more  evident  ;  and  will  discover  to  us 
W'ith  the  utmost  certainty,  what  must  be  the  character  of 
a  composition  that  is  rightly  named  "  the  Word  of  God." 

God,  we  know,  is  a  Being  Infinite  and  Eternal.  He 
made  the  world,  and  all  things  in  it  ;  gifting,  in  particu- 
lar, every  living  object  with  faculties  suited  to  its  nature, 
or  to  the  use  it  is  designed  to  perform  in  the  grand  whole. 
But  although  every  thing  in  nature  plainly  bespeaks  its 
Divine  Author,  he  has  not,  in  any  part  of  nature,  a  visible 
existence.  His  immediate,  personal  residence,  is  far  above 
the  sphere  of  this  world,  or  of  the  universe,  of  nature, — 
yea,  above  that  of  the  worlds  of  spirit,  the  abodes  of 
anaelic  beings  :  "  for  behold,  even  the  heavens,  and  the 
heaven  of  heavens,  cannot  contain  him  :" — much  less  this 
gross,  material  world,  the  lowest  sphere  of  his  divine  ac- 
tivities. 

Now  man,  while  he  is  an  inhabitant  of  this  natural 
world,  enjoys  the  gift  of  speech  :  and  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  he  will  retain  this  valuable  endowment  when  he  de- 
parts hence,  to  move  in  a  higher  s})here  of  existence.  In- 
deed, tliere  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  faculty  must  be  en- 
joyed, in  some  mode  or  other,  by  all  orders  of  intelligent 
creatures,  from  man  on  earth  to  the  angels  of  the  highest 
heavens,  and  even  up  to  the  Creator  himself,  from  whom 
finite  intelligences  receive  it.  But  as  the  personal  forms 
of  angelic  beiuLS  are  not  visible  to  the  corj)oreal  eye  of 
man  in  the  world,  so  neither  is  their  oral  language  avulible 
to  his  bodily  ear.  Hence  the  Apostle  Paul  informs  the 
Corinthians,  that  when  he  was  caught  up,  as  to  his  spirit, 
to  the  third  heaven,  he  heard  there    "  unspeakable  words, 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  47 

such  as  it  is  not  possii/e"  (according  to  the  marginal  read- 
ing of  our  bibles,  which  is  allowed  to  give  the  true  mean- 
ing  which  the  original  word  bears  in  this  place  ; — such  as 
it  is  not  possible)  "  for  man  to  utter."  There  cannot  be  a 
plainer  testimony  to  the  diflference  between  spiritual  and 
natural  speech  or  language.  While  the  Apostle  was  in 
heaven  and  in  company  with  the  angels  there,  and  was 
thus,  for  the  time,  in  a  state  similar  to  tlieirs  ;  he  heard 
and  understood  their  discourse,  and  possibly  took  a  share 
in  it  :  but  when  he  returned  into  his  natural  state,  as  an 
inhabitant  of  the  natural  world,  though  no  doubt  he  re- 
tained some  of  the  general  instruction  which  was  commu- 
nicated in  the  angelic  discourse,  as  to  the  ideas,  he  found 
he  could  recollect  nothing  of  the  words  in  which  it  Avas 
conveyed  to  him,  but  only  the  conviction,  that,  by  natural 
organs,  they  were  altogether  ineffable. 

If  then  the  words  of  angels  are  such  as  are  unspeakable 
to  man  ;  what  must  the  words  of  God  be,  as  they  proceed 
immediately  from  himself  ?  Doubtless,  they  must  be  far 
above  either  the  hearing  or  tlie  comprehension  of  any 
finite  being  ;  and  they  must  be  immensely,  indeed,  beyond 
the  hearing  or  the  comprehension  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
natural  world.  Before  they  could  become  ap|)rehensible 
to  them,  they  must  pass  tiirough  the  spheres  iiiliabited  by 
the  higher  orders  of  intelligent  creatures,  who  would  hear 
them  in  their  own  sj)iritnal  language.  For  the  Divine  Be- 
ing to  speak,  iuunediately  from  his  own  mouth,  in  natural 
language,  must  be  as  impossible,  as  it  is  for  him  to  appear 
in  all  the  glory  of  his  Divine  Person,  before  the  natural 
eye.  Consequently,  if  the  Word  of  God,  as  we  have  it,  in 
natural  language,  is  really  his  Word,  its  literal  sense  must 
be  a  covering,  witli  which  it  is  invested  to  adapt  it  to  the 
apprehension  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  natural  world  ;  and 
the  essentially  divine  speech  must  lie  concealed  far  within. 
And  as  between  the  immediate  personal  residence  of  Deity 
and  outward  nature,  must  be  arranged  the  abodes  of  all  in- 


48  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

termediate  intelligences  ;  so  between  the  immediate  divine 
sj)eecli  of  the  Lord  and  the  natural  expressions  into  which 
it  falls  when  it  descends  into  the  domains  of  nature,  must 
be  distinct  forms  of  Divine  Truth,  adapted  to  the  appre- 
hension of  all  orders  of  angelic  beings. 

But  to  resume  the  analogy  between  the  Word  of  God 
and  his  works.  From  all  that  has  been  advanced  it  may 
be  seen  that  to  suppose  the  literal  sense  of  tJie  Word  of 
God,  (upon  the  assumption  that  it  is  rightly  so  named,)  to 
be  all  that  it  contains,  because  nothing  more  is  obvious  to 
a  superficial  inspection,  is  just  as  reasonable  as  to  affirm, 
that  the  human  body  consists  of  nothing  but  skin,  because 
this  is  all  that  meets  the  unassisted  eye  :  but  as  the  re- 
searches of  anatomists  have  assured  us,  that  within  the  skin 
which  covers  our  frame  there  are  innumerable  forms  of 
use  and  beauty,  each  of  which  consists  again  of  innumera- 
ble vessels  and  fibres  ;  whilst,  after  science  has  carried  her 
discoveries  to  the  utmost,  the  principle  that  imparts  life  to 
the  whole  still  eludes  the  search:  so  the  letter  of  the  Holy 
Word,  which  may  be  regarded  as  its  skin,  includes  within 
it  innumerable  spiritual  truths,  adapted  in  some  measure 
to  the  apprehension  of  spiritually  minded  men,  but  more 
completely  to  tlie  intellects  of  purely  spiritual  beings  ; 
whilst  the  Essential  Divine  Wisdom  which  gives  life  to 
the  whole,  is  beyond  the  comprehension  of  the  highest 
finite  intelligence,  and  can  only  be  known  to  its  Infinite 
Orig-inal.  And  such  must  be  the  character  of  the  to/io/e  of 
the  Word  of  God, — as  well  of  those  passages  which  afford 
a  clear,  instructive  sense  in  the  letter,  as  of  those  which  do 
not  :  for  the  Word  of  God,  to  be  truly  so,  must  be  like  it- 
self throughout,  and  must  every  where  be  composed  upon 
one  uniform  principle.  Every  mind  that  reflects  deeply 
upon  the  subject,  will,  I  am  persuaded,  see,  that  to  deny 
the  Holy  Word  to  possess  such  contents  as  we  have  de- 
scribed, is  equivalent  to  denying  it  to  have  God  for  its  au- 
thor.    It  makes  it  nothing  more  than  the  word  of  men  ; — 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  49 

of  men  pious,  perhaps,  and  enlightened,  but  still  finite  and 
fallible. 

Such  then  are  the  views  to  which  even  reason,  fairly 
consulted,  would  lead  us,  when  we  inquire,  what  must  be 
the  nature  of  a  composition  which  is  really  and  truly  the 
Word  of  God.  We  must  now  then  proceed  to  inquire, 
how  far  these  agree  with  the  vicAvs  which  are  presented  by 
the  Writings  which  take  that  title,  on  tlie  subject  of  their 
own  nature. 

III.  We  continually  find  the  Holy  Word  itself,  in  its 
very  letter,  directing  the  reader  to  elevate  his  mind  above 
the  merely  literal  expression, — above  the  natural  ideas  and 
images  which  compose  its  outward  language, — and  to  ex- 
plore the  deep  and  truly  divine  wisdom  that  is  contained 
■within  ;  thus  the  very  letter  repeatedly  assures  us,  that  the 
Word  of  God  contains  stores  of  wisdom  in  its  bosom,  in- 
dependently of  any  thing  that  appears  on  the  surface.  This 
testimony  it  bears  to  itself  in  all  its  parts, — in  the  books 
of  the  Old  Testament,  in  the  discourses  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  in  the  writings  of  the  Apostles. 

Many  plain  intimations  are  afforded  by  the  writers  of 
the  Old  Testament  ;  but  I  will  just  notice  one  or  two  in 
the  Psalms  alone. 

1.  What  can  be  meant  by  that  passage  in  which  the 
Psalmist  prays,  "  Open  thou  mine  eyes,  that  I  may  behold 
wondrous  things  out  of  thy  law?"*  Is  not  this  a  plain 
declaration,  that  the  Law  or  Word  of  God  does  contain 
within  it  wonderful  things,  which  cannot  be  discerned 
unless  the  eyes  of  the  mind,  or  the  intellectual  faculties,  be 
opened  to  discern  them  ? — thus,  things  which  do  not  ap- 
pear immediately  on  the  surface,  but  lie  stored  up  within.^ 
And  that  these  wonderful  things,  or  divine  mysteries,  arc 
not  only  contained  in  those  parts  which  give  outward  indi- 

*  Ps.  cxix.  lo. 


60  fLENART    INSPIRATION    OF 

cations  of  it  by  the  obscurity  and  evidently  mystical  cha- 
racter of  the  language  in  which  they  are  expressed,  but  in 
those  parts  likewise  where  the  letter  is  perfectly  plain  and 
simple,  is  openly  declared  in  the  78th  Psalm,  which  begins 
with  these  words  :  "  Give  ear,  0  my  people,  to  my  law, 
incline  your  ears  to  the  words  of  my  mouth.  I  will  open 
my  moutli  in  a  parable,  1  will  utter  dark  sayings  of  old." 
Now  nothing  can  appear  more  extraordinary,  to  those  who 
think  of  nothing  further,  when  they  read  the  Scriptures, 
than  what  aj)pears  upon  the  face  of  them,  than  to  find  such 
a  declaration  as  this  prefixed  to  such  a  composition  as  fol- 
lows. When  the  writer  has  declared  in  so  solemn  a  manner, 
that  he  is  about  to  open  his  mouth  in  a  parable,  to  utter  dark 
sayings  of  old,  the  reader  is  naturally  led  to  expect,  in  the 
continuation  of  the  Psalm,  a  series  of  mysterious  language, 
containing  an  enigma  in  every  word.  But  what  does  fol- 
low .''  Nothing,  whatever,  but  a  very  plain  abridgment  of 
the  history  of  the  Israelites,  from  their  departure  out  of 
Egypt  to  the  reign  of  David,  couched  in  language  that  is 
not  even  elevated  by  poetical  figures,  but  appears  to  be  the 
natural  style  of  sober  matter  of  fact.  Can  there  then  be  a 
plainer  declaration  than  this,  that  the  whole  of  the  Israel- 
itish  history  has  a  parabolic  meaning, — that  the  language 
in  which  this  history  is  given,  plain  and  simj)le  as  it  ap- 
pears, is  in  reality  a  series  of  dark  sayings?  Every  sentence 
of  a  composition  written  in  the  style  of  this  Psalm,  which, 
making  allowance  for  the  metrical  arrangement,  is  similar 
to  that  of  the  historical  parts  of  Scripture  in  general,  is,  in 
fact,  more  dark,  in  proportion  as  it  outwardly  appears 
more  plain.  The  hidden,  spiritual  meaning  is,  in  reality, 
rendered  more  recondite,  by  the  plainness  of  the  literal 
historical  meaning,  the  simplicity  of  which  tends  to  chain 
the  attention  to  the  narrative  of  facts,  and  to  prevent  it 
from  looking  for  any  thing  beyond.  Let  any  person  read 
this  Psalm,  one  of  the  plainest,  in  its  literal  sense,  in  the 
whole  book,  and  remember  at  the  same  time  that  the  inspir- 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  61 

ed  writer  is  throughout  speaking  parables, — uttering  dark 
sayings  ; — and  he  must  confess  that  every  literal  expiession 
here  contains  a  hidden  meaning  ;  and,  of  course,  that  it  is 
at  least  highly  probable,  that  the  case  is  the  same  through- 
out the  Holy  Word. 

We  find  then  from  this  testimony  of  David,  that  such  is 
the  character  of  the  law  of  Moses,  and  of  the  historical 
narratives  of  the  Old  Testament  ; — it  will  therefore  be 
more  easily  admitted,  that  such  must  be  the  character  of 
the  prophetical  books  also.  We  proceed  then  to  consider 
the  evidence  of  tlie  New  Testament  on  the  subject  ;  and 
we  will  begin  with  that  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  Were  we  to  adduce  all  the  testimony  which  is  afford- 
ed in  the  discourses  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  the  spirit- 
ual nature  of  the  Scriptures,  we  should  find  ample  matter 
for  a  Lecture  by  itself ;  wherefore  we  must  confine  our- 
selves to  a  few  instances. 

One  very  strong  testimony,  but  the  force  of  which  might 
be  overlooked  by  a  reader  Avho  does  not  consider  the  pur- 
port of  the  chief  expressions,  is  given  by  Him  when  he 
says,  "  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  law  and 
the  prophets  :  I  am  not  come  to  destroy  but  to  fufil."* 
Some  have  found  it  difficult  to  reconcile  this  declaration 
with  the  fact,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  Mosaic  law  actu- 
ally was  abolished  by  the  establishment  of  Christianity,  the 
observance  of  it  not  being  enjoined  on  Christians,  and  the 
power  of  observing  it  being  taken  away  even  from  the 
Jews,  by  the  destruction  of  their  city  and  temple,  where 
alone  the  chief  of  the  ceremonies  could  be  j)erformed.  It 
is  indeed  said,  and  with  truth,  that  the  whole  of  the  cere- 
monial law  was  fulfilled  by  Jesus  Christ  in  his  own  person  : 
but  this  does  not  account  for  the  abolition  of  it  afterwards  : 
otherwise  we  must  suppose  the  moral  law,  which  he  ful- 
filled likewise,  to  be  abolished    also  :  and  this    has  never 

•  Matt.  V.  17. 


58  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

been  asserted  by  any  but  the  wildest  Antinomian  pervert- 
ers  of  Divine  Truth.  It  is  besides  evident,  that  he  is  not 
here  speaking  of  what  was  done  in  his  own  person,  but  of 
what  would  be  the  effect  of  his  doctrine,  or  of  the  illumi- 
nation of  the  human  mind  which  he  came  to  impart. 
When  tlierefore  Jesus  Christ  declares,  that  he  came  to  ful- 
fil the  laAV  and  the  prophets,  he  means  that  he  came  to 
prevent  them  from  being  any  longer  regarded  merely  as  to 
their  surface  or  shell  ;  to  bring  to  light  the  divine  things 
with  which  they  are  inwardly  filled  ;  and  to  establish  a 
church  which  should  be  in  the  exercise  of  that  spiritual 
worship,  of  which  the  carnal  worship  of  the  ceremonial 
law  was  a  figure  or  type.  The  word  "  fulfil,"  being  now 
no  longer  used  except  in  its  secondary  senses,  which  are, 
"  to  answer  a  prophecy  or  promise  by  performance,'' — 
-'  to  answer  a  desire  by  compliance," — "  to  answer  a  law 
by  obedience  ;" — the  Englisli  reader  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  apt  to  forget  its  primitive  meaning,  which  is,  to  fill 
full, — "  to  fill  till  tliere  is  no  room  for  more  ;"* — which 
also  is  the  primitive  and  proper  meaning  of  the  Gieek 
word  [*X7)|ooj]  for  which  it  is  used  :  to  fulfil  the  law,  is  then 
to  fill  it  full  ; — and  this  is,  to  discover  the  substance  of 
which  the  ceremonies  were  shadows,  and  the  inward  prin- 
ciples from  which  the  outward  acts,  even  of  the  moral  law, 
must  be  performed.  The  Divine  Speaker  immediately  pro- 
ceeds to  illustrate  his  meaning  by  examjdes.  After  referring 
to  the  Mosaic  prohibitions  of  murder  and  adultery,  he  pro- 
ceeds to  forbid  all  uncharitable  sentiments  and  unclean 
thoughts  ;  and  after  referring  to  the  Mosaic  law  of  retalia- 
tion, he  inculcates  the  most  unbounded  forbearance  and 
forgiveness  :  by  which  he  instructs  us,  that  those  precepts 
of  the  ancient  law  convey  much  more  than  the  letter  ex- 
presses ;  that  under  the  prohibition  of  murder,  every  de- 
gree of  hostile  feeling  is  interdicted  ;  that  the  prohibition 

*  Johnson. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &,C.  53 

of  adultery  extends  to  every  species  of  unclennness  ;  and 
that  the  law  of  retaliation  is  a  representative  appointment 
only,  exhibiting  an  immutable  arrangement  of  the  Divine 
Older  in  the  government  of  the  universe,  which  is  such, 
that  no  evil  can  be  practised  or  intended,  without  falling 
eventually  upon  the  contriver  ;  but  that  this  law  is  reserv- 
ed, as  to  its  execution,  to  the  Unerring  Judge  alone  ;  and 
is  not  meant  to  be  that  by  which  man  is  to  regulate  his 
conduct  towards  his  trespassing  brother.  These  then  are 
examples  by  which  Jesus  Christ  shews,  how,  m  the  dis- 
pensation which  he  came  to  institute,  the  law  was  to  be 
fulfilled  ;  in  "  the  newness  of  the  spirit,  not  in  the  oldness 
of  the  letter  :"*  by  introducing  into  the  outward  observ- 
ance of  the  moral  code  the  inward  spirit  and  life  ;  and  by 
substituting  for  the  ceremonial  observances  those  vital 
graces  of  which  they  were  the  types.  It  was  thus  that  the 
righteousness  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ  was  to  exceed 
the  righteousness  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  who  thought 
of  nothing  further  than  an  outward  obedience. 

There  are  however  other  instances,  in  which  Jesus 
Christ  still  more  plainly  refers  to  the  divine  wisdom  in- 
cluded within  the  veil  of  the  letter  of  the  Holy  Word. 
What  a  remarkable  statement  is  that,  where  it  is  said,  after 
his  resurrection,  when  he  discovered  himself  to  his  disci- 
ples, "  Then  opened  he  their  understandings,  that  they 
might  understand  tiie  Scriptures  !"f  Is  it  not  plain  from 
this,  that  the  Scriptures  contain  a  hidden  meaning,  not 
explicitly  discovered  in  the  letter,  which  cannot  be  under- 
stood unless  the  understanding  be  opened  to  perceive  it  ? 
Thus  this  statement  is  a  counterpart  of  the  prayer  of  the 
Psalmist  before  adverted  to  ;  "  Open  thou  mine  eyes,  that 
I  may  behold  wondrous  things  out  of  thy  law  :"  and  both 
together  illustrate  that  saying  of  Jesus  Christ,  "  Verilv  I 
say  unto  you,  that  many  prophets  and  righteous  men  have 
desired  to  see  the  things  which   ye   see,  and  have  not  seen 

"  Rom.  vii.  6.  1  Luke  xxiv.  45. 


54  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OP 

them,  and  to  hear  the  tilings  which  ye  hear,  and  have  not 
heard  them  :"*  words  which  imj)ly,  that  even  the  sincere 
lovers  of  trutJi,  who  lived  under  the  Jewish  dispensation, 
in  which  divine  things  were  either  enigmatically  expressed 
in  the  Sacred  Writings,  or  darkly  shadowed  out  in  the 
symbolic  rites,  could  not  have  that  clear  understanding 
and  perception  of  heavenly  mysteries,  which  were  brought 
to  light  by  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  and  by  that  new  illu- 
mination of  the  understanding  which  he  then  afforded. 

This  plain  distinction  between  the  outward  language  in 
which    divine    Truth   is  conveyed,   and  the   divine   wis- 
dom  wliich  is  included  within  it,  is  what  is  intended  by 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  that  otherwise  unintelligible  ques- 
tion and  answer,  which  he  proposes  and  gives,  respecting 
the  obstinacy  and  blindness  of  the  Jews.     He  says  to  them, 
"  Why  do  ye  not  understand  my  speech  .-"'  and  he  answers 
the  question  by  adding,  "  Even  because  ye  cannot  hear  my 
word."!     Here   he  makes  a  plain  distinction  between  his 
speech  and  his  word.     To  a  superficial  reader  the  two  ex- 
pressions   may  appear  synonimous  :  but  to   suppose  that 
they  are  so,  is  not  only  to  impute  the  most  insipid  tautolo- 
gy to  tiie  Divine  Speaker,  but  the  most  palpable  no-mean- 
ing :  for  the  whole  sense  of  the  declaration  is  concentrat- 
ed  in    the    difference   which    is   pointed   to    between  his 
"  speech"  and  his  "  word."     Understand  by  his  "  speech" 
the  outward  expression  and  literal  sense  of  his  divine  com- 
munications, and  by  his  "  word,"  the  pure  truth  which  is 
concealed  within  ;  and  the  sense  of  the  declaration  at  once 
appears,  and  is  to  be   found  to  be   most  weighty  and  im- 
portant ;  nor  can  any  other  interpretation  render  it  worthy 
of  the  Author.     Here  then  we  are  clearly  taught  this  most 
momentous  truth  :  that  unless  the  hidden  wisdom   of  the 
Lord's  divine   communications  be  acknowledged  and  at- 
tended to,  the  outward  expression   of  them  will  never  be 
understood. 

•  Matt.  xiii.  17.  t  John  viii.  43. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  55 

We  will  quote  only  one  more  testimony  from  the  imme- 
diate lips  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  In  the  sixth  chapter 
of  John  he  holds  a  long  discourse  with  the  cavilling  Jews, 
couched  entirely  in  thobe  dark  sayings  which  so  generally 
constitute  the  letter  of  the  Holy  Word.  He  tells  them, 
that  He  is  the  living  bread  which  came  down  from  heaven, 
of  which  if  a  man  eat  he  shall  live  for  ever  :  to  which  he 
adds,  "  And  the  bread  that  I  will  give  is  my  flesh,  which 
I  will  give  for  the  life  of  the  world."*  This  puzzled  the 
Jews  extremely,  and  they  "  strove  among  themselves,  say- 
ing. How  can  this  man  give  us  his  flesh  to  eat  .'"'  Jesus, 
however,  enforced  his  assertion,  and  "  said  unto  them, 
Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of 
the  Son  of  Man,  and  drink  his  blood,  ye  have  no  life  in 
you  :"  which  aflirmation  he  dwelt  upon  at  some  length. f 
This  confounded  even  many  of  his  disciples,  and  they  said, 
"  This  is  a  hard  saying  :  who  can  hear  it  .'"'+  meaning, 
Who  can  understand  and  receive  such  a  paradox  as  this  .•' 
But  it  is  added,  "  When  Jesus  knew  in  himself  that  his 
disciples  murmured  at  it.  He  said,  Doth  this  offend  you  .' 
What  and  if  ye  shall  see  the  Son  of  Man  ascend  up  where 
he  was  before  .'"'  And  he  subjoins,  as  a  key  to  the  mys- 
tery, "  It  is  the  spirit  that  quickeneth  ;  the  flesh  profiteth 
nothing  :  the  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are  spirit, 
and  they  are  life."§  How  is  it  possible  to  state  more  de- 
cidedly, that  it  is  the  spiritual  meaning  of  divine  language 
which  is  to  be  looked  for,  and  that  we  are  not  to  abide  in 
the  gross,  carnal  interpretation  ?  And  how  plainly  are  we 
hereby  instructed,  that  the  difficulties  which  stagger  and 
offend  many,  when  they  look  at  the  mere  outward  cover- 
ing, or  "  flesh"  of  the  Divine  Word,  would  disappear, 
could  they  raise  their  ideas  to  a  perception  of  its  "  spirit" 
and  its  "  life  !" 

It  is  clear  enough  then,  from  these  declarations,  what  is 
the  nature  of  the  words  of  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  also  what  is 

•Ver.  51.         t  Ver.  5210  58.         t  Ver.  f/).  ^   Ver.  HI.  02,  63. 


66  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

the  nature  of  the  whole  Word  of  God,  if  it  really  is  the 
*••  Word  of  God,"  God-breathed — "  given  by  inspiration  of 
God  :"  viz.  that  it  every  where  contains  much  more  than 
meets  the  eye  or  ear.  We  are  now  to  see  how  far  the 
Apostles  bear  a  similar  testimony. 

3.  Not  then  to  dwell  upon  that  passage  of  Paul,  in  which 
he  says,  that  "  the  letter  killeth,  the  spirit  giveth  life  ;"* 
although  this  might  be  shewn  to  be  strong  to  our  purpose  ; 
we  will  advert  to  a  few  of  the  numerous  instances  in  which 
this  Apostle  directs  the  attention  of  his  readers  to  the 
spiritual  signification  of  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment— those  of  the  New  being  not  then  written  ;  or  such 
of  them  as  were  written  not  generally  known. 

Speaking  of  the  pilgrimage  of  tJie  children  of  Israel  in 
the  wilderness,  the  Apostle  states,  that  "  they  did  all  eat 
of  the  same  spiritual  meat,  and  did  all  drink  of  the  same 
spiritual  drink  :  for  they  drank  of  the  spiritual  rock  that 
followed  them  ;  and  that  rock  was  Christ. "f  Here  we 
are  evidently  taught,  that  something  more  was  conveyed 
by  the  manna  which  was  given  them  from  heaven,  and  the 
water  that  was  produced  for  them  from  the  rock,  than 
merely  natural  food  and  drink  for  the  support  of  the 
body  ;  as  also,  that  the  rock  itself,  out  of  which  the  water 
was  obtained,  was  representative  of  the  Rock  of  Ages  :  for 
that  the  rock  in  Horeb  was  not  literally  Clirist,  is  suffi- 
ciently evident  :  yet  the  Apostle  says,  "  and  that  rock  was 
Christ  ;"  he  must  mean  then,  that  it  was  a  representation, 
figure,  emblem,  or  type  of  Christ,  who  alone,  as  being 
*'  THE  Truth,"!  ^"t^  "  THE  Word,"§  can  refresh  the  faint- 
ing soul  with  streams  of  "  living  water, "||  which  is  an 
emblem  of  pure  Truth,  communicated  by  the  Word,  from 
Himself  ? 

The  same  Apostle  gives  a  spiritual  meaning  of  so  appar- 
ently plain  a  history  as  that  of  Abraham,    his  wife   and 

*  2  Cor.  iii.  (i.         j  1  Cor.  x.  34.  t  John  xiv.  6.         §   John  i.  1. 

II  John  iv.  10:   vii.  '^S. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  57 

concubine,  and  tlicir  sons,  Isaac  and  Ishmael.  "  It  is  writ- 
ten," he  observes,  "  that  Abraham  had  two  sons,  the  one 
by  a  bond-maid,  the  other  by  a  free  woman  :  but  he  who 
was  of  the  bond-woman  was  born  after  the  flesh  ;  but  he 
of  the  free  woman  by  promise.  Which  things,"  he  con- 
tinues, "  are  an  allegory  ;"  and  he  accordingly  explains 
them,  as  being  emblematical  of  tJie  Isi'aelitish  and  Chris- 
tian dispensation.*  Now  if  this  plain  narrative  contains 
an  allegorical  or  inward  meaning  besides  its  literal  or  out- 
ward sense,  what  reason  can  be  given  for  doubting,  that 
the  whole  of  the  historical  relations  of  the  Divine  Word 
do  the  same  .•"  If  Isaac  from  his  birth,  was  a  type  of  the 
Christian  Dispensation  in  general,  may  we  not  conclude, 
that  the  nation  descending  from  him  represented,  in  their 
history,  all  the  particulars  of  the  same  ?  or,  what  is  sub- 
stantially the  same  thing,  all  the  spiritual  things  belonging 
to  the  Lord's  true  Church  under  every  dispensation  .'' 
This  we  have  already  seen,  is  taught  us  by  David  ;  and 
we  shall  see  in  the  sequel,  that  there  is  abundantly  more 
scriptural  evidence  of  the  same  great  truth. 

But  we  have  not  yet  done  with  the  testimony  of  Paul, 
who  inculcates  this  fact  more  explicitly  still,  because  more 
generally,  when  he  says,  "  He  is  not  a  Jew  which  is  one 
outwardly  ;  neitlier  is  circumcision  that  which  is  outward 
in  the  flesh  :  but  he  is  a  Jew  which  is  one  inwardly  ;  and 
circumcision  is  that  of  the  heart,  in  the  spirit,  and  not  in 
the  letter. ''^f  In  these  words  we  are  clearly  instructed,  that 
when  the  Jews  are  mentioned  in  Scripture,  we  are  to  under- 
stand, not  merely  the  descendants  of  the  man  named  Ju- 
dali,  or  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  called  Judaea,  but 
the  member  of  the  Lord's  true  church,  under  whatever 
dispensation  ;  and  that  the  initiatory  rite  of  Judaism  was 
representative  of  the  purification  of  the  heart  and  its 
affections  ;  as  is  also  plainly  declared  by  Moses  himself.| 

*  Galatians  iv.  22.  to  end.     i  Rom.  ii.  28,  29.     t  Deut.  x.  16,   ch.  .\x.\.  6.' 


58  PLENARY     INSPIRATION    OF 

Of  the  nature  of  the  Mosaic  writings,  the  Apostle  gives 
us  several  more  examples  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 
With  what  force  of  argument  does  he  demonstrate,  that 
Melchizedeck  Avas  a  type  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  !*  So, 
how  positively  does  he  assert  the  typical  nature  of  all  the 
ceremonial  institutions  !  Thus  speaking  of  the  priests,  and 
of  the  gifts  which  they  offered  according  to  the  law,  he 
says,  that  they  "  serve  unto  the  example"  [yiroSsiyixa- — pro- 
perly, according  to  Schleusner,  that  which  presents  something 
visible  to  the  sight]  "  and  shadow  of  heavenly  things  :" 
which  interpretation  he  confirms  by  adding,  "  as  Moses 
was  admonished  of  God,  when  he  was  about  to  make  the 
tabernacle  ;  for.  See,  saith  he,  that  thou  make  all  things 
according  to  the  pattern  [tu'Toj;]  shewed  to  thee  in  the 
mount."!  Soon  after,  taking  up  more  particularly  the 
subject  of  the  tabernacle  constructed  by  Moses,  he  affirms, 
that  it  "  was  a  figure  for  the  time  then  present  :"|  and  he 
presently  calls  the  rituals  of  the  tabernacle  worship  "  the 


*  Chs.  V.  and  vii. 
t  Heb.  viii.  5.  It  is  necessary  to  remark,  that  the  words  Tt/^n,?  in  this 
passage,  and  ttyrtruTrog  in  that  to  be  noticed  immediately,  have  mean- 
ings exactly  the  reverse  of  those  which  the  words  type  and  antitype  have 
acquired  in  English.  With  the  Apostle,  the  tijpe  is  the  pattern,  and  the  anti- 
type is  that  which,  as  a  copy,  answers  to  the  type  :  but  with  us,  the  type  is  the 
copy,  and  the  antitype  is  the  original,  or  pattern,  of  the  tijpe.  This  seems  to 
have  originated  in  inaccurate  writers  confounding  the  Greek  particle  anti 
with  the  Latin  particle  ante.  To  bear  the  popular  meaning,  the  word  should 
be  spelled  antetype  :  though  then  it  is  an  incongruous  compound  from  two 
languages.  The  ambiguity  introduced  by  the  translators  in  the  use  of  the 
word  pattern,  should  also  be  noticed.  In  the  passage  above,  they  use  it  in  the 
sense  to  which  it  is  now  fixed, — as  the  original  from  which  a  copy  is  made  : 
but  in  the  next  quotation  they  use  it  in  the  sense,  not  of  a  pattern,  but  of  a 
copy  taken  from  a  pattern.  It  must  further  be  noticed,  that  the  word 
ctv'Tt'TV7ro(,  in  the  passage  quoted  below  from  Peter,  does  not  mean  an  antitype 
in  either  of  the  senses  here  explained,  but  something  that  answers  to  another 
thing  of  the  same  order  as  itself  ;  not  as  a  copy  to  a  pattern,  or  a.s  a  pattern 
to  a  copy,  but  as  txco  similar  things  of  the  same  kind  or  degree,  that  exactly 
match  each  other. 

t  Heb.  ix.  n. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &,C.  59 

patterns  [viro'hiy^j.aTa']  of  things  in  the  heavens,"  and  speaks 
of  them  in  contrast  with  '■'■  the  heavenly  things  them- 
selves ;"*  immediately  adding,  that  "the  holy  places 
made  with  hands,  are  the  figures  [avTirvn-a]  of  the  true."f 
Agreeably  to  this  view  of  the  Mosaic  rituals,  he  speaks 
of  "  the  law"  as  "  having  a  shadow  of  good  things  to 
come,  and  not  the  very  image  of  the  things  :"|  where  by 
"  the  image,"  as  has  been  judiciously  remarked,  he  means, 
what  is  respectively  a  substance  ; — a  solid  statue  being  a 
substance  respectively  to  its  own  shadow. 

We  find  then  that  the  testimony  of  the  Apostle  Paul  is 
very  copious  and  conclusive  :  He  affirms  the  representa- 
tive character  of  the  persons  mentioned  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment ;  of  all  the  particulars  attending  the  celebration  of 
the  Mosaic  worship  ;  of  the  history  of  the  Israelites  in 
general  ;  and,  in  fact,  of  every  thing  connected  with  that 
people  and  church  :  and  he  repeatedly  calls  our  attention 
from  the  mere  "  letter"  of  Scripture,  to  the  "  spirit"  tiiat 
resides  within. 

The  ej)istolary  writings  of  the  other  Apos-tles,  and  the  re- 
mains of  their  discourses,  being  small  in  extent,  and  almost 
entirely  occupied  with  practical  exhortations,  are  less  ex- 
plicit on  this  subject.  Peter,  however,  plainly  discovers, 
in  two  or  three  instances,  what  his  sentiments  respecting 
it  were.  Thus,  in  his  first  sermon,  he  not  only  applies  to 
the  gift  of  the  spirit,  which  they  had  just  received,  the 
following  part  of  a  prophecy  of  Joel, — •'  It  shall  come  to 
pass  in  the  last  days,  saith  God,  I  will  pour  out  of  my  spi- 
rit upon  all  flesh  ;  and  your  sons  and  your  daughters  shall 
prophesy,  and  your  young  men  shall  see  visions,  and  your 
old  men  shall  dream  dreams  ;  and  on  my  servants  and  on 
my  handmaidens  I  will  pour  out  in  those  days  of  my  spi- 
rit, and  they  shall  prophesy  :"— but  he  cites  the  remainder 
of  Joel's  prediction  also,  as  then  receiving  its  accomplish- 
ment ; — "And  I  will  shew  wonders  in  heaven  above,  and 

*  Heb.  ix.  23.  i  Ver.  24.  |  Ch.  x.  1. 


60  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

signs  in  tlie  earth. beneath,  blood,  and  fire,  and  vapour  of 
smoke :  tlie  sun  shall  be  turned  into  darkness,  and  the 
moon  into  blood,  before  that  great  and  notable  day  of  the 
Lord  come."*  Now  although  the  words  first  quoted  may 
be  considered  as  bearing,  in  their  literal  sense,  a  relation 
to  the  effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
it  is  only  in  a  sense  quite  different  from  that  of  the  letter, 
that  the  other  part  of  the  prediction  was  then  fulfilled. 

The  same  Apostle  assures  us,  that  there  is  a  symbolic 
meaning  in  the  history  of  Noah.  Having  mentioned  the 
ark,  "  wherein  a  few,  that  is,  eight  souls,  were  saved  by 
water  ;"  he  adds,  "  the  like  figure  [avTiru^ov]  whereunto, 
even  baptism,  doth  also  noAv  save  us,  (not  the  putting 
aAvay  of  the  filth  of  the  flesli,  but  the  answer  of  a  good 
conscience  towards  God,)  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ."!  Here  we  are  expressly  told,  that  the  waters  of 
Noah  were  as  truly  a  figure  of  something  spiritual,  as  are 
the  waters  of  baptism,  these  being  the  fellow-type  to  the 
other  :  their  import  is  also  briefly  stated. 

But  not  only  does  Peter  mention  particular  instances  in 
which  a  spiritual  sense  is  contained  within  the  letter  of  the 
Scriptures,  but  he  also  declares  that  this  is  the  case  univer- 
sally, when  he  says,  "  We  have  also  a  more  sure  word  of 
prophecy,  whereunto  ye  do  well  tliat  ye  take  heed,  as  un- 
to a  light  shining  in  a  dark  place,  until  the  day  dawn,  and 
the  day-star  arise,  in  your  hearts  :" — If  he  had  concluded 
here,  he  would  have  clearly  described  the  fact,  as  it  ex- 
ists. The  prophetic  writings  are  called  a  light  shining  in  a 
dark  place  :  Jiow  beautifully  does  this  describe  the  differ- 
ence between  their  literal  expression  and  the  divine  wis- 
dom within  it  ! — the  light  denoting  the  pure  truth  of  their 
inward  meaning,  and  the  dark  place  in  which  it  shines  tlie 
obscurity  of  the  letter,  which  is  such,  that,  to  discover  the 
liglit,  devout  contemplation  is  necessary,  imtil  it  shines  as 
the  day-star  in  our  own  minds  also.     But  to  make  the  fact 

*  Acts  Ji.  16  to  -il.  t   1  Pet.  iii.  20,  21.     See  Note  above,  p.  ffS. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  61 

more  certain,  and  to  encourage  us  to  the  stiuly  of  the 
Scriptures  under  this  view  of  thein,  the  apostle  adds, 
"  Knowing  this  first  ;  that  no  prophecy  of  the  Scripture  is 
of  any  private  interpretation."*  Now  the  Scriptures 
would  be  of  "  private  interpretation,"  if  their  meaning 
were  confined  to  the  natural  occurrences  to  which  they 
usually  refer  in  their  letter, — if  nothing  more  were  intend- 
ed beyond  the  persons  and  things  there  commonly  men- 
tioned. I  am  not  unapprized  of  the  other  modes  in  which 
this  statement  has  been  explained  ;  but  I  am  fully  satisfied 
that  this  is  the  only  one  which  comes  up  to  the  apostle's 
meaning.  If  regard  is  to  be  had  to  the  context,  both  that 
which  precedes  and  that  which  follows,  as  well  as  to  the 
proper  force  of  the  words,  the  meaning  surely  must  be  that 
which  is  quoted  by  Dr.  Doddridge  from  Dr.  Clarke  and 
Mr.  Baxter,  who  understood  the  passage  as  if  the  apostle 
had  said,  "  Scripture  is  not  to  be  interpreted  merely  as 
speaking  of  the  particular  person  of  whom  it  literally 
speaks  ;  but  as  having  a  further  sense,  to  which  the  ex- 
pressions of  the  prophets  were  overruled  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Spirit,"  &c.  Evidently,  if  the  meaning  of  the 
Scriptures  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  appropriated  merely  to 
the  persons  and  things  of  which  they  treat  in  their  letter, 
— if  they  thus  are  not  of  private  but  of  universal  interpre- 
tation ;  then  they  must  contain  an  interior  sense,  a  hidden 
wisdom,  adapted  to  the  edification  of  every  Christian  in 
every  age  of  the  world. 

The  evidence,  then,  to  the  nature  of  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  Testament,  is  already  very  complete  :  but  had  all  the 
otiier  writers  of  the  New  Testament  been  silent  on  the  subject, 
we  still  should  have  had  sufficient  information  to  guide  our 
jvidgment,  in  the  book  that  closes  the  canon  of  Scrii)turc. 
In  this  book — tlie  Revelation  of  John,  how  full  is  the  tes- 
timony which  we  find  to  the  hidden  wisdom  contained  in 

*  2  Pet.  i.  19,  20. 


62  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

all  the  affairs  and  writings  relating  to  the  Jewish  dispensa- 
tion !  It  would,  however,  engage  us  too  long,  were  we 
to  examine  it  in  detail :  suffice  it  then  to  say,  that  much  of 
the  imagery  of  this  book  is  taken  from  the  state  of  things 
which  existed  under  the  Mosaic  law.  Though  written, 
according  to  the  best  computations,  upwards  of  twenty 
years  after  the  destruction  of  the  city  and  temple  of  Jeru- 
salem, it  contains  repeated  mention  of  both  ;* — as  also  of 
the  ark,t — of  the  altars  of  incense|  and  of  burnt  offerings§, 
of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel, j]  notwithstanding  ten  of  them 
had  long  before  been  entirely  dispersed  and  mixed  with 
other  nations  ;  besides  many  of  the  persons**  and  placesff 
treated  of  in  the  sacred  history  of  the  Jews  ;  all  which  fur- 
nish the  writer  with  a  copious  store  of  imagery  that  is  evi- 
dently purely  symbolic  :  how  plain  then  is  the  inference, 
that  these  things  belonging  to  the  circumstances  of  the 
Jewish  dispensation,  and  which  are  here  incontrovertibly 
used  as  mere  symbols,  bearing  a  spiritual  meaning,  were 
equally  symbols,  and  equally  bore  a  spiritual  meaning, 
when  they  really  existed  in,  or  in  the  vicinity  of,  the  land 
of  Canaan,  and  when  they  are  spoken  of  in  the  letter  of  the 
other  books  of  Scripture4t 

Thus  it  is  perfectly  clear,  that  every  thing  relating  to 
the  Jews  as  a  people,  typified  something  belonging,  either 
to  the  true  Jews  spoken  of  by  Paul,  who  are  such  inwardly 
in  the  spirit  and  not  outwardly  in  the  letter^  or  else  to  those 
mentioned  in  the  Revelation,  "  who  say  they  are  Jews  and 
are  not  ;"§§  in  other  words,  either  to  the  true  or  to  the 
merely  professing  members  of  the  Church  universal  :  and 
as  the  whole  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  in  the  literal  sense, 
refers  to  such  things,  it  follows,  that  the  whole  of  the  Sa- 
cred Scriptures  contains  an  inward  meaning  distinct  from 

*  Cli.  iii.  12,  xxi.  2,  xi.  1,  19,  xv.  5,  8,  xvi.  1,  17.  t  Ch.  xi.  19.  |  Ch.  viii.  3. 
§  Ch.  xi.  I.  II  Ch.  vii.  4  to  8.  *>'  Ch.  ii.  14,  20,  ch.  iii.  7,  v.  5,  xi.  3,  4.  (see 
Zech.  iv.  11  to  14  )  \\  Ch.  xi.  8,  chs.  xvii.  find  xviii.  xxi.  2,  &c.  ft  See  this 
argument  faithf-r  deduced  in  the  Appendix,  No.  I.     §  §  Cii.  ii.  9, iii.  9. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  63 

that  of  the  the  letter, — that  they  are  replete  with  stores  of 
wisdom  in  their  bosom,  independently  of  what  appears 
upon  tlie  surface.  And  it  follows  further,  that  in  form- 
ing a  judgment  of  their  pretensions  to  inspiration, 
we  are  to  be  guided  by  their  inward  contents,  and  not 
solely  by  their  outward  form  and  appearance.  To  al- 
lude again  to  the  image  used  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we 
are  not  to  be  offended  at  the  "  flesh,"  because  we  have  not 
discernment  to  discover  "the  spirit." 

4.  It  having  thus  been  so  plainly  taught  by  the  Lord  and 
his  apostles,  that  the  Scriptures  are,  in  their  inward  bosom, 
spirit  and  life,  it  will  be  expected  that  the  primitive  Chris- 
tian Church,  which  derived  its  ideas  of  the  nature  of  the 
Scriptures  from  the  teaching  of  the  apostles,  must  univer- 
sally have  allowed  them  to  possess  this  character  :  and,  ac- 
cordingly, ecclesiastical  history,  and  the  writings  of  those 
times  which  are  still  extant,  shew  that  such  was  the  case. 
Indeed,  no  truth  in  history  is  more  certain  than  this  ;  that 
for  at  least  fourteen  or  fifteen  hundred  years,  few  who  re- 
ceived the  Scriptures  at  all,  ever  thought  of  denying  that 
thev  contained  mysteries  in  tlieir  bosom  which  do  not  ap- 
pear upon  the  surface.  It  is  true  that  some  were  dissatis- 
fied, and  even  disgusted,  with  the  intepretations  which 
had  been  given  by  others,  and  rather  sought  to  ascertain 
the  true  literal  sense  than  to  explore  what  might  lie  be- 
yond :  but  few  ever  thought  of  affirming,  that  nothing 
beyond  the  letter  was  included  in  them.  The  accounts 
which  are  contained  in  that  well-known  work,  Mosheim's 
Ecclesiastical  History,  abundantly  prove  this  :  and  as  it  is 
not  our  intention  here  to  inquire  what  the  interpretations 
were,  which,  in  consequence  of  their  admission  of  a  hid- 
den sense,  were  given  of  Scripture  by  ancient  Christian 
writers,  but  only  to  establish  the  fact,  that  they  believed 
it  to  contain  such  a  sense  ;  the  statements  of  this  author 
will  be  sufficient  for  our  purpose. 


64  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

(I.)  Mesheim  was  himself  one  of  the  modern  writers 
who  lay  it  down  as  a  "  golden  rule,"  that  the  Scripture 
contains  but  one  sense,  which  is  that  of  the  letter  ;  on 
which  his  translator,  Dr.  Maclaine,  found  it  necessary  to 
remark,  that  "  this  golden  rule  will  often  be  found  defec- 
tive and  false,"*  unless  many  exceptions  be  made  to  it. 
Mosheim,  however,  was  strongly  attached  to  it;  and  hence 
the  opprobrious  language  which  he  uses  in  regard  to  all 
who  maintain  tlie  opposite  opinion,  must  be  received  with 
many  grains  of  allowance.  Such  being  his  sentiments,  he 
evidently  is  much  annoyed  at  being  obliged  to  record, 
that  the  belief  of  a  hidden  sense  was  univ^ersal  in  the  pri- 
mitive ages  :  he,  however,  does  record  it,  though  he  de- 
preciates the  writings  of  those  who  adopt  the  principle. 
Thus,  speaking  of  the  mode  of  interpreting  Scripture  in 
the  first  century,  he  says,  "  It  must  be  acknowledged,  that 
even  in  this  century,  several  Christians  adopted  that  ab- 
surd and  corrupt  custom,  used  among  the  Jews,  of  dark- 
ening the  plain  words  of  tlie  Holy  Scriptures  by  insipid 
and  forced  allegories,  and  of  drawing  them  violently  from 
their  proper  and  natural  signification,  in  order  to  extort 
from  them  certain  hidden  and  mysterious  significations. 
For  a  proof  of  this  we  need  go  no  farther  than  the  Epistle 
of  Barnabas,  which  is  yet  extant. "f  It  is  well  he  did  not 
say  "  the  epistles  of  Paul  ;"  for  we  liave  seen  that  Paul 
quite  as  decidedly  favoured  the  practice  of  drawing  from 
the  plain  words  of  Scripture,  not,  indeed,  insipid  and 
forced  allegories,  but  weighty  and  just  ones  ;  and  it  must 
be  remembered,  that  Barnabas  was  an  apostolical  man,  the 
friend  of  Paul  and  the  other  Apostles,  and  sometimes  call- 
ed an  Apostle  himself  -4  although  then  Barnabas  might  err 
in  his  application  of  the  general  principle, — that  there  is  a 
hidden  sense  in  the  Scriptures, — we  hardly  can  suppose 
that  he  was  mistaken  in  the  principle  itself.     The  intimate 

*  Cent.  xvi.  Sec.  X  Pt.  2,  Cli.  1,  §  16,  Note  (a),    t  Cent.  1,  Pt.  1,  Ch.  3,  §  2. 
t  Acts,  xi\.  14. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  65 

fiieiul  of  the  Apostles  must  have  known,  whether  this 
princij)le  was  acknowledged  by  them,  or  not.* 

When  he  comes  to  the  second  century,  speaking  of  the 
veneration  with  which  the  Holy  Scriptures  were  then  re- 
garded, Dr.  Mosheiin  ?ays,  that  many  employed  their 
"  usefid  labours  in  explaining  and  interpreting  them."  As 
the  chief  of  tiie^e  expositors  he  mentions  Pantasnus,  the 
head  of  the  Alexandrian  school  of  divinity  ;  Clement  of 
Alexandria,  whom  he  had  before  described  as  "the  inost 
illustrious  Avriter  of  this  century,  and  the  most  justly  re- 
nowned for  his  various  erudition,  and  his  perfect  ac- 
cjuaintance  with  the  ancient  sages,"  and  whose  works, 
"  yet  extant,  abundantly  show  the  extent  of  his  learning, 
and  the  force  of  his  genius  ;"  Justin,  "  a  man  of  eminent 
piety  and  considerable  learning,  who  from  a  pagan  philo- 
sopher became  a  Christian  martyr  ;"  and  Theophilus, 
Bishop  of  Antioch,  whose  works  are  "  remarkable  for 
their  erudition,"  though  not  for  "  their  order  and  me- 
thod :"  and  of  these  distinguished  lights  of  the  church  he 
says,  that  "  they  all  attributed  a  double  sense  to  the  words 
of  Scripture,  the  one  obvious  and  literal,  the  other  hidden 
and  mysterious,  which  lay  concealed,  as  it  were,  under  the 
veil  of  the  outward  letter."! 

Proceeding  to  the  third  century,  and  commemorating 
the  pains  then  taken  by  some  to  midtiply  correct  copies  of 
the  Scriptures,  he  mentions  the  celebrated  Origen  in  these 
words  :  "  But  Origen  surpassed  all  others  in  diligence  and 
assiduity  ;    and    his    famous    Hexapla|,  though  almost  de- 

*  Moslieini,  indeed,  with  some  others,  does  not  allow  the  author  of  the  epis- 
tle of  Barnabas,  to  have  been  the  Barnabas  who  was  the  companion  of  Paul ; 
but  upon  no  other  grounds,  than  because  he  does  not  consider  the  epistle  to  be 
worthy  of  such  a  man.  He  allows  it,  however,  to  be  a  production  of  the  first 
century  ;  and  none  of  the  early  Christians  seemed  to  have  denied  its  being 
genuine. 

t  Cent.  2,  Pt.  2,  Ch.  3,  §  4,  5  ;  and  Ch.  2.  §  5. 

t  A  work  in  which  he  exhibited,  at  one  view,  six  copies  or  verHion.H  of  the 
Scriptures,  r.fter  the  manner  of  iht^  moilern  Polygiotti. 

9 


66  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

stroyed  by  the  waste  of  time,  will  remain  an  eternal  mo- 
nument of  the  incredible  application  with  which  that  great 
man  laboured  to  remove  the  obstacles  which  retarded  the 
progress  of  the  gospel."*  He  had  previouslyf  given  the 
character  of  Origen  in  stronger  terms  still.  Speaking  of 
the  principal  writers  of  the  third  century,  he  says,  "  The 
most  eminent  of  these,  whether  we  consider  the  extent  of 
his  fame,  or  the  multiplicity  of  his  labours,  was  Origen,  a 
presbyter  and  catechist  of  Alexandria  ;  a  man  of  vast  and 
uncommon  abilities,  and  the  greatest  luminary  of  the 
Christian  world  that  this  age  exhibited  to  view.  Had  the 
justness  of  his  judgment  been  equal  to  the  immensity  of 
his  genius,  the  fervour  of  his  piety,  his  indefatigable  pa- 
tience, his  extensive  erudition,  and  his  other  eminent  and 
superior  talents,  all  encomiums  must  have  fallen  short  of 
his  merit.  Yet  such  as  he  was,  his  virtues  and  his  labours 
deserve  the  admiration  of  all  ages  ;  and  his  name  will  be 
transmitted  with  honour  through  the  annals  of  time,  as 
long  as  learning  and  genius  shall  be  esteemed  among  men." 
Higher  eulogy  could  not  easily  be  penned  :  and  the  re-  ~ 
serve  that  is  made  on  the  score  of  his  judgment,  may  fair- 
ly be  ascribed  to  the  prejudice  of  the  writer  against  any 
but  the  literal  interpretation  of  Scripture.  No  literary 
pursuit  requires  a  more  accurate  judgment  than  sacred 
criticism  :  and  Origen  is  universally  allowed  to  have  been 
one  of  the  most  laborious  and  judicious  critics  that  ever 
lived.  He  was  in  no  respect  inferior  to  the  Weststeins  and 
Griesbachs  of  our  days,  in  that  species  of  erudition  and  in- 
dustry to  which  they  devoted  all  their  attention.  He  dis- 
played the  utmost  diligence  and  acumen  in  fixing  the  text, 
and  ascertaining  the  literal  sense  of  Scripture  :  but  he  did 
not,  like  many  who  have  followed  him,  in  modern  times, 
in  this  walk  of  biblical  literature,  because  he  excelled  in 
it,  extol  it  as  the  whole,  or  the  highest.     This  great  man, 

*    Cent,  3,  Pt,  9,  Ch.  'X  §  4.  t    Jbid,  Ch.  2,  §  7. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  67 

then,  strenuously  maintained  that  the  chief  wisdom  in  tlie 
Scriptures  lies  beyond  the  letter.  "  He  alleged,"  to  quote 
again  from  Mosheim,  "  that  the  words  of  Scripture,  were, 
in  many  places,  absolutely  void  of  sense;  and  that  though, 
in  others,  there  were  indeed  certain  notions  contained  un- 
der the  outward  terms  according  to  their  literal  force  and 
import,  yet  it  was  not  in  these  that  the  true  meaning  of 
the  sacred  writers  was  to  be  souglit,  but  in  a  mysterious 
and  hidden  sense  arising  from  the  nature  of  tlie  things 
themselves."*  Mosheim  adds,  "  Jl  prodigious  number  of  in- 
terpreters, both  in  this  and  the  succeeding  ages,  followed 
the  method  of  Origen,  though  with  some  variation  ;  nor 
could  the  few  who  explained  the  sacred  writings  with 
judgment,  and  a  true  spirit  of  criticism,"  [so  our  author 
is  pleased  to  give  his  opinion  ;  though  we  have  seen  that 
Origen  himself  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  critics,]  "  oppose, 
with  any  success,  the  torrent  of  allegory  that  was  over- 
flowing the  church."!  Very  strong  testimony,  this,  as  to 
the  state  of  opinion  in  those  ages  on  the  nature  of  the 
Scriptures.  And  it  must  be  kept  in  mind,  that  this  is  all 
that  we  are  concerned  with.  I  undertake  not  to  vindicate 
the  interpretations  themselves,  but  only  the  general  prin- 
ciple which  all  such  interpretations  assume  ; — that  there  is 
in  the  Scriptures  more  than  meets  the  eye. 

But  if  I  would  not  vindicate  the  interpretations  of  these 
early  times,  farther  than  as  regards  their  general  princi- 
ple, still  less  would  I  defend,  in  any  other  respect,  the  ex- 
positors of  the  following  ages.  It  will  not  however  be 
without  its  interest  and  its  use,  if  we  take,  from  our  au- 
thor, a  rapid  sketch  of  the  state  of  Scripture  interpreta- 
tion, through  the  succeeding  ages,  to  the  period  of  the 
Reformation  from  Popery. 

As  after  the  third  century  many  deviations  from  the 
pure  Christian  doctrine  and  worship  became  general,  it 
cannot  be  deemed  surprising  if  the  interpreters  of  Scrip- 

^   Cent.  3,  n.  2,  Ch.  3,  §  5.  t  Ibid.  §  6. 


6S  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    Of 

ture  should  be  found  to  have  fallen  into  serious  errors, 
and  grievously  to  have  misapplied  the  great  general  truth, 
that  the  Scriptures  contain  a  sense  beyond  that  of  the  letter. 
We  find,  however,  that  all  the  eminent  names  in  the 
church  continued  to  adhere  to  this  truth,  with  very  few- 
exceptions,  down  to  the  age  of  Luther.  The  most  learned 
of  the  fathers  of  the  fourth  century,  were  Eusebius  and  Je- 
rome ;  and  these  Mosheim  puts  in  his  list  of  allegorical 
interpreters  :  he  claims  Augustine  as  adhering  to  the  let- 
ter ;  but  he  cannot  mean  that  this  father  denied  there  to 
be  any  thing  beyond  the  letter  ;  since  his  writings  contain 
many  beautiful  spiritual  interpretations.  In  the  ffth  cen- 
tury he  only  gives  the  names  of  one  or  two  who  confined 
themselves  to  the  literal  sense,  as  exceptions  to  the  general 
practice.  In  the  sixth  century  the  number  of  interpreters  is 
described  as  considerable  :  Among  the  Greeks,  our  author 
states,  the  principal  were  Procopius  of  Gaza,  Severus  of 
Antioch,  and  Julian  ;  and  among  the  Latins,  Gregory  the 
Great,  Cassiodorus,  Primasius,  Isidore  of  Seville,  and  Bel- 
lator.  The  commentators  of  this  age,  he  affirms,  may  be 
divided  into  two  classes  :  the  first  of  whom  merely  collect- 
ed the  interpretations  of  the  ancient  doctors  of  the  church, 
(who,  we  have  already  seen,  proceeded  in  their  writings 
upon  the  admission  of  a  spiritual  sense,)  which  collections 
afterwards  acquired  the  technical  name  of  chains;  and  tlie 
other  class  followed  their  own  ideas,  setting  up  Origen  as 
their  great  model.  The  seventh  century  produced  but  few 
expositors  :  The  Grecian  doctors  all  followed  the  allegori- 
cal mode  :  bnt  "the  Latins,"  says  Mosheim,  in  his  usual 
sarcastic  style,  "  were  so  difiident  of  their  abilities,  that 
they  did  not  dare  to  enter  these  allegorical  labyrintJis, 
[under  their  own  guidance,  he  means,]  but  contented 
themselves  with  what  flowers  they  could  pluck  out  of  the 
rich  collections  of  Gi-egory  and  Augustine."  In  the  eighth 
century,  both  the  Greeks  and  Latins  confined  themselves 
almost  entirely  to  tlie  task  of  compilation  :  but  those  who 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  69 

framed  any  thing  of  their  own,  as  Alcuin,  Authpert,  and 
the  venerable  Bede,  all  men  of  the  greatest  al)ilities,  always 
sought  for  the  "  hidden  and  mystical  meaning,  which  they 
usually  divided  into  allegorical,  anagogical,  and  tropolo- 
gioal."  The  same  description  applies  to  the  writers  of  the 
ninth  century,  with  the  partial  exception  of  two,  Druth- 
mar,  and  Bertharius  :  Mosheim  continues  to  divide  the 
rest  into  compilers  and  oiiginal  authors  ;  and  he  thus  de- 
scri])es  the  form  which  the  system  of  Scripture-interpreta- 
tion had  now  assumed  :  "  The  fundamental  principle,  in 
which  all  the  writers  of  this  class  [those  who  were  not 
meie  compilers]  agree,  is,  that,  beside  the  literal  significa- 
tion of  each  passage  in  Scripture,  there  are  hidden  and 
deep  senses  which  escape  the  vulgar  eye  ;  but  they  are  not 
agreed  about  the  number  of  these  mysterious  significations. 
Some  attribute  to  every  phrase  three  senses  ;  others  four  ; 
others  again  five  ;  nay,  their  number  is  carried  to  seven, 
by  Angelome,  a  monk  of  Li?ieux,  an  acute  though  fantas- 
tic writer,  and  who  is  far  froiii  deserving  the  meanest 
rank  among  the  expositors  of  this  century."  The  tenth 
century  was  an  age  of  great  darkness,  which  produced  few 
expositors  of  Scripture  ;  and  these  Avere  chiefly  mere  com- 
pilers. There  were  more  writers  in  the  eleventh  century, 
and  of  the  same  two  classes.  la  the  twelfth  century  the 
number  of  interpreters  is  described  as  great,  but,  unless 
Rupert  of  Duytz  is  to  be  considered  as  an  exception,  the 
same  character  is  given  of  them  as  l^.efore.  "  The  Chris- 
tian interpreters  and  commentators  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
differ  very  little,"  says  Mosheim,  "  from  those  of  the  pre- 
ceding times.  The  greatest  part  of  them  pretended  to 
draw  from  the  depths  of  truth,  what  they  called  the  inter- 
nal juice  and  marrow  of  the  Scriptures,  i.  e.  their  hidden 
and  mysterious  sense  :"  he  adds,  (and,  I  doubt  not,  cor- 
rectly ;  for  I  repeat,  though  I  conceive  their  general  prin- 
ciple to  be  right,  I  readily  concede  that  their  application  of 
it  was  wrong,)  "  and  this  they  did  Avith  so  little  dexterity, 


70 


PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OP 


SO  liltle  plausibility  and  invention,  that  most   of  their  ex- 
plications must  appear  insipid  and  nauseous  to  such  as  are 
not   eit    ely   destitute   of  judgment   and   taste."     This   I 
ru"''e    because   he  mentions  as  exam})les,  beside  Anthony 
of  Padua,  our  Archbishop  Langton,  and  Hugo  de  St.  Cher, 
or  Cardinal  Hugh   de  St.  Caro  ;  wlience  we  see,  as  in  for- 
mer instances,    tliat   altliough  the  biblical  expositions   of 
those  days  might  be  unsound,  they  often  proceeded  from 
the  most    o    d  judgments  of  the  age,  and  from  men  who 
deserved  well  of  posterity.     The  common  reader  of  the 
Bible  is  indebted  for  the  facility  of  finding  and  remember- 
ing its  various  contents,  to  Archbishop  Langton,  who  first 
divided  it   into   ch  })te!'s,   and    who    moreover    is    called 
by  Mosheim's  translator,   "  a  learned  and  polite  author, 
for  the  age  in  \\hich    1  e  lived  :"  and   the  more  diligent 
student   owes  the  help  he    derives  from  a  Co  cordance, 
to  Cardinal   Hugo,   who  compiled  the  first  that  ever  was 
made,  and  whose  work  has  been  the  model  of  all  the  Con- 
cordances which  have  followed,  whether  in  Hebrew  or 
Greek,  in  Latin  or  English  :  he,  likewise,  had  so  much  of 
the  sober-minded  critic  in  his  character,  that  he  compiled 
a  very  learned  collection   of  the  various  readings   of  the 
Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin  manuscripts  of  the  Bible.     In 
the  fourteenth  century,  except  Nicholas  de  Lyra,   all  the 
commentators  followed  the  methods  already  explained  : 
and  of  those  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  same  character  is 
given.     Tliis    brings  us  to   the  era  of  the  reformation  ; 
when  the  desire  of  receding  as  far  as  possible  from  the  Ro- 
man Catholics,  who  continued  to  adhere  to  the  old  system, 
joined  to  disgust  at  the  manner  in  which  the  doctrine  of  a 
spiritual  sense  had  been  abused,  by  being  applied  to  con- 
firm tlie  errors  of  the  Roman  Catholic   church,   induced 
some   of  the  Reformers  to  reject  it  ;  though  it  has  conti- 
nued to  have  many  eminent  advocates  among  them  to  the 
present  day.     If  it  could  be  shewn  that  the  doctrine  itself 
was   a  corrupt  invention    of  the    Romish   church,  there 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  "^1 

would  1)6  reason  for  rejecting  it  :  but  when  it  can  be  prov- 
ed to  have  been  the  belief  of  the  primitive  ages,  and  this 
because  it  is  taught  in  the  Scriptures  themselves,  we  ought 
to  take  the  pains  to  separate  the  errors  that  have  been 
attached  to  it  from  the  truth  itself,  and  not  reject  both 
together.  As,  during  many  ages,  every  thing  connected 
with  religion  suffered  the  most  grievous  perversion,  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  same  fate  attended  the  spi- 
ritual interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  :  but  to  deny  the 
truth  of  the  principle  on  this  account,  is  just  as  reasonable 
as  it  would  be  to  deny  the  truth  of  the  declaration — "  All 
power  is  given  to  me  in  heaven  and  in  earth  ;"* — made 
by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  because  to  this  doctrine  has  been 
attached  the  monstrous  appendage,  that  the  Pope  is  his 
Vicar. 

I  will  conclude  this  statement  of  the  sentiments  of  the 
primitive  and  middle  ages  on  the  subject  of  Scripture-in- 
terpretation, in  the  words  of  two  eminent  luminaries  of 
the  Anglican  Church.  Archbishop  Wake,  one  of  the  most 
learned  and  pious  prelates  that  ever  sate  in  the  English 
Metropolitan  Chair,  in  the  introduction  to  his  translation 
of  "  the  Genuine  Epistles  of  the  Apostolical  Fathers,"  has 
some  remarks  in  defence  of  the  spiritual  exposition  of 
Scripture,  and  of  Barnabas  in  particular.  He  says,t  "  1 
need  not  say  how  general  a  way  this  was  of  interpreting 
Scripture  in  the  time  that  St.  Barnabas  lived.  To  omit 
Origen,  who  has  been  noted  as  excessive  in  it,  and  for 
whom,  yet,  the  learned  Huetius  has  lately  made  a  reason- 
able apology  ;  who  has  ever  shewn  a  more  diffusive 
knowledge  than  Clemens  Alexandrinus  has  done  in  all  his 
composures  ?  and  yet  in  his  works  we  find  the  very  same 
method  taken  of  interpreting  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and 
that  without  any  reproach  either  to  his  learning  or  judg- 
ment.    What  author  has  been  more  generally  applauded 

*  Matt,  xxriii.  18.  t  Ch.  vii.  ^  2.'). 


72  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

for  liis  admirable  piety  than  that  other  Clement,  [Clemens 
Romaiius,  a  disciple  and  "  fellow  labourer"*  of  Paul,] 
whose  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  I  have  here  inserted  ? 
and  yet  in  that  plain  piece  we  meet  with  more  than  one 
in  tance  of  the  same  kind  of  interpretation  ;  wliich  was 
nevertheless  admired  by  the  best  and  most  primitive 
Christians."  So  Bishop  Home,  in  the  Preface  to  his 
Commentary  on  the  Psalms,  speaking  of  the  testimony  of 
the  ancients,  has  these  words  :  "  They  are  unexception- 
able witnesses  to  us  of  this  matter  of  fact  :  that  such  a 
spiritual  method  of  interpreting  the  Scriptures,  did  uni- 
versally prevail  in  the  cliurch  from  the  beginning." 

So  far  then  as  authority  is  to  be  consulted  in  the  deci- 
sion of  such  a  question,  the  weight  of  evidence  for  the  spi- 
ritual sense  of  the  Scriptures  is  irresistible.  What  regard 
is  to  be  had  to  the  doubts  of  a  few  moderns,  when  opposed 
to  the  unanimous  decision  of  all  antiquity, — to  the  unvary- 
ing acknowledgment  of  so  many  ages  ?  Although,  through 
part  of  its  course,  the  doctrine  of  spiritual  interpretation 
may  have  been  rendered  less  clear  by  the  foulness  of  the 
channel  through  which  it  flowed  ;  and  although  it  has,  in 
modern  times,  been  made  less  distinguishable  by  a  mixture 
of  other  waters  ;  it  unquestionably  had  its  rise  in  the  vir- 
gin days  of  Christianity  :  Unless  then  it  is  to  be  contended, 
that  the  farther  from  the  fountain,  the  purer  the  stream, 
it  must  be  admitted,  that  the  doctrine  of  spiritual  interpre- 
tation is  the  pure  doctrine  of  the  Christian  church. 

(2.)  The  Reformation  from  Popery  introduced  in  the 
Christian  church  a  great  variety  of  opinions  ;  and  it  would 
be  a  very  extensive  task  to  trace,  through  the  numerous 
sects  which  have  thus  sprung  up,  the  fluctuations  of  senti- 
ment in  regaid  to  the  principles  of  Scripture-interpreta- 
tion. And  the  task  would  be  nearly  as  unprofitable  as  it 
would  be  tedious  :  since  the  opinions  of  the  moderns  can 


Phil. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  73 

have  no  other  weight,  than  tliat  which  they  derive  from 
their  evident  reasonableness  and  agreement  with  Scrip- 
ture :  as  authority,  they  have  none.  I  shall  confine  myself 
therefore  to  a  few  English  testimonies  ;  only  observing, 
once  for  all,  of  the  modern  writers  in  general,  that  while 
the  ancients  generally  believed  the  spiritual  sense  to  extend 
throughout  the  Scriptures,  few  of  the  moderns  allow  it 
this  complete  universality  ;  on  the  other  hand,  while  many 
of  these  deny  its  existence  generally,  few  of  tliem  refuse  to 
admit  it  in  particular  instances.  This  qualification  then 
must  be  applied  to  the  testimonies  I  shall  adduce  from 
them  in  favour  of  a  spiritual  sense  ;  but  we  shall  see  in  the 
sequel,  that,  if  we  make  the  admission  at  all,  we  must,  with 
the  ancients,  make  it  universal. 

As  the  most  recent  of  modern  testimonies  of  importance, 
I  select  that  of  the  Rev.  T.  H.  Home,  with  an  older  author 
or  two  cited  by  him  :  we  shall  also  have  occasion  to  refer 
to  other  authorities  in  our  subsequent  Lectures.  In  his 
laborious  "  Introduction  to  the  Critical  Study  and  Know- 
ledge of  the  Holy  Scriptures," — a  work  which  has  rapid- 
ly passed  through  three  editions,  and  has  been  received 
with  the  general  applause  of  biblical  students,  Mr.  Home 
expresses  himself  thus  :  "  the  spiritual  interpretation  of 
Scripture  has  been  as  much  depreciated  by  some  commen- 
tators and  biblical  critics  as  it  has  been  exaggerated  and 
carried  to  the  extreme  by  others  :  but  if  the  argument 
against  a  thing  from  the  possibility  of  its  being  abused  be 
inadmissible  in  questions  of  a  secular  nature,  it  is  equally 
inadmissible  in  the  exposition  of  the  Sacred  Writings. 
All  our  ideas  are  admitted  through  the  medium  of  the 
senses  ;  and  consequently  refer,  in  the  first  place,  to  exter- 
nal objects  :  but  no  sooner  are  we  convinced  that  we  pos- 
sess an  immaterial  soul  or  spirit,  than  we  find  occasion  for 
other  terms,  or,  for  want  of  these,  another  application  of 
the  same  terms  to  a  different  class  of  objects  :  and  hence 
arises  the  necessity  of  resorting  to  figurative  and  spiritual 
10 


74  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

interpretation.  Now,  the  object  of  revelation  being  to 
Uiiike  known  things  which  '  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear 
heard,  nor  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive/ 
it  seems  hardly  possible  that  the  human  mind  should  be 
capable  of  apprehending  them,  but  through  the  medium  of 
figurative  language  or  mystical  representations."*  In  this 
passage,  as  it  appears  to  me,  the  question  is  placed  upon 
exactly  the  right  ground  ;  and  a  clue  is  at  the  same  time 
given  to  the  discovery  of  the  law  or  rule  according  to 
which  the  Scriptures  are  written,  and  by  which  their 
spiritual  sense  is  to  be  decyphered.  It  is  perfectly  true 
that  our  ideas  are  received,  in  the  first  instance,  by  the 
instrumentality  of  the  senses  :  these,  however,  can  bring 
us  acquainted  with  none  but  external  and  sensible  objects  ; 
the  images  of  which,  thus  obtained,  become,  nevertheless, 
tlie  basis  of  all  our  future  thoughts,  and,  in  numberless  in- 
stances, are  transferred  from  their  primary  notions,  and 
used  as  the  signs  of  totally  different  things.  It  has  been 
objected  by  infidels,  that  as  all  our  ideas  have  a  reference 
to  the  objects  of  outward  nature,  and  we  cannot  think  even 
of  immaterial  things  without  the  help  of  images  thence 
compounded,  this  is  a  proof  that  nothing  but  nature  has  a 
real  existence,  and  that  all  beyond  is  purely  the  creature 
of  the  imagination  :  but  this  is  a  most  gratuitous  assump- 
tion :  the  true  statement  of  the  case  would  be,  ihat  there 
is  between  material  and  immaterial  objects  such  a  sort  of 
regular  analogy,  that  the  former  present  the  most  appro- 
priate signs  for  the  expression  of  the  latter.  We  shall  see 
in  the  sequel,  that  it  is  by  this  immutable  principle  that 
the  Word  of  God  is  written.  Mr.  Home  has  established 
this  truth  by  a  beautiful  quotation  from  Dr.  John  Clarke, 
who  states  it  thus  : 

"  The  foundation  of  religion  and  virtue  being  laid  in 
tlie  mind  and  heart,  the  secret  dispositions  and  genuine 
acts  of  which   are   invisible,  and  known   only  to  a  man's 


Vol.  2,  Pt.  2,  Ch.  1,  §  5. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  75 

self;  therefore  the  powers  and  operations  of  the  mind  can 
only  be  expressed  in  figurative  terms  and  external  symbols. 
The  motives,  also,  and  inducements  to  practice,  are  spirit- 
ual, such  as  affect  man  in  a  way  of  moral  influence,  and 
not  of  natural  eihciency;  the  principal  of  which  are  drawn 
from  the  consideration  of  a  future  state  ;  and,  consequent- 
ly, these,  likewise,  must  be  represented  by  allegories  and  si- 
militudes, taken  from  things  most  known  and  familiar 
here.  And  thus  we  find  in  Scripture  the  state  of  religion 
illustrated  by  all  the  beautiful  images  we  can  conceive. — 
In  the  interpretation  of  places,  in  Avhich  any  of  these  im- 
ages are  contained^  the  principal  regard  is  to  be  had  to  the 
figurative  or  spiritual,  and  not  to  the  literal  sense  of  the 
words. — Of  this  nature  are  all  the  rites  and  ceremonies 
prescribed  to  the  Jews,  with  relation  to  the  external  form 
of  religious  worship  ;  every  one  of  which  was  intended  to 
shew  the  obligation,  or  recommend  the  practice,  of  some 
moral  duty,  and  was  esteemed  of  no  farther  use  than  as  it 
produced  that  effect.  And  the  same  may  be  applied  to 
the  rewards  and  punishments  peculiar  to  the  Christian  dis- 
pensation, which  regard  a  future  state.  The  rewards  are 
set  forth  by  those  tilings  in  which  the  generality  of  men 
take  their  greatest  delight; — and  the  punishments  are  such 
as  are  inflicted  by  human  laws  upon  the  worst  of  malefac- 
tors :  but  they  can  neither  of  tliem  be  understood  in  tlie 
strictly  literal  sense,  but  only  by  way  of  analogy,  and  corres- 
ponding in  the  general  nature  and  intention  of  the  thing, 
though  very  different  in  kind."* 

"  But,"  adds  Mr.  Home,  "  independently  of  the  able 
argument  a  ]9rion,  here  cited,  in  fixvour  of  the  mediate, 
mystical,  or  spiritual  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  un- 
less such  interpretation  be  admitted"  [in  conjunction,  he 
means,  with  the  truth  of  the  literal  sense,]  "  we  cannot," 
[in  the  conclusive  words  of  the  late  Bishop  of  Calcutta,] 

*  Folic}  Collection  of  Boyle's  Lectures,  vol.  iii.  p.  ?2D. 


76  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

**  avoid  one  of  two  great  difficulties  :  for  either  we  must 
assert,  that  the  multitude  of  applications  made  hy  Christ 
and  his  apostles,  are  fanciful  and  unauthorized,  and  whol- 
ly inadequate  to  prove  the  points  for  which  they  are  quot- 
ed ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  we  must  believe,  that  the  ob- 
vious and  natural  sense  of  such  passages  was  never  intend- 
ed, and  that  it  is  a  mere  illusion.  The  Chrisiian  will  ob- 
ject to  the  former  of  these  positions  ;  the  Philosopher  and 
the  Critic  will  not  readily  assent  to  the  latter."*  This 
powerful  writer  says  again,  in  a  passage  not  quoted  by 
Home,  that,  without  such  a  two-fold  explanation,  "  it 
will  be  impossible  to  place  any  of  the  citations  in  the  New 
Testament,  except,  indeed,  direct  and  avowed  prophecies, 
on  any  better  footing  than  that  of  being  accidentally  appo- 
site to  the  occasion.  A  quotation  from  the  Psalms,  by  St. 
Paul,  will  not,  in  its  application,  possess  any  advantage 
over  a  quotation  from  Horace  by  Addison. "f 

Here  then  I  am  contented  to  rest  my  case,  in  regard  to 
the  question,  of  the  propriety  of  claiming  for  the  Scrip- 
tures a  spiritual  sense,  upon  the  supposition  that  they  are 
rightly  designated  "  the  Word  of  God."  If  philosophy, 
and  the  immutable  nature  of  things,  are  to  be  consulted, 
*'  the  Word  of  God"  must  contain  such  a  sense  within  it. 
If  the  testimony  which  the  Scriptures  bear  to  themselves 
is  to  be  regarded,  they  do  contain  such  a  sense.  If  "  the 
multitude  of  applications"  made  of  texts  "  by  Christ  and 
his  Apostles"  was  not  "  fanciful  and  unauthorized,"  the 
double  sense  of  Scripture  is  irrefragably  established.  If 
the  concurrent  acknowledgment  of  all  who  lived  in  the 
best  days  of  Christianity  is  of  any  authority,  we  are  con- 
strained to  admit  this  sense.  If  the  preservation  of  this 
acknowledgment  through  so  many  centuries,  even  through 
the  ages  of  the  greatest  darkness,  when  the  sentiments  aris- 

*   Dort.  of  Greek  Article,  p.  580.  t   Ibid.  p.  588. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  77 

ing  from  it,  together  with  all  the  doctrines  of  the  Christ- 
ian religion,  suffered  gross  perversion  ; — if  this,  neverthe- 
less, is  an  index  tliat  points  to  the  source  vshence  the  ac- 
knowledgment was  derived; — then  is  the  doctrine  that  the 
Scriptures  do  contaiii  such  a  i^ense,  a  fundamental  tloctrine 
of  the  true  Christian  religion.  And,  finally,  if  the  force 
of  truth  has  pointed  out  this  conclusion  to  the  moht  intel- 
ligent of  the  moderns  ;  if  these,  after  throwing  off  tlie 
trammels  of  authority,  and  recuning  to  the  original 
sources,  are  constrained  to  confess,  that  the  i-piritual  sense 
of  the  Scriptures  cannot  be  denied,  without  denyiiig  their 
truth  altogether  :  assuredly  Ave  ought  to  eml>race  tlie  doc- 
trine, as  we  would  emhrace  the  palladium  of  the  Christian 
faith.  We  shall  find  in  the  end,  that,  when  rightly  appre- 
hended, it  will  j)rove  a  palladium  indeed,  by  its  power  of 
preserving  the  Christian  faith  from  the  assaults  of  its  op- 
ponents. 

IV.  But,  as  has  already  been  observed,  though  the  tes- 
timony to  the  fact,  that  the  Word  of  God  contains  stores 
of  wisdom  in  its  bosom,  independently  of  what  appears  on 
the  surface,  is  so  ample,  objections,  during  two  or  three 
centuries  past,  have  been  made  to  it,  and  its  credit  has 
gradually  diminished.  The  belief  in  the  spiritual  sense  of 
Scripture,  has  run  parallel  with  that  of  its  plenary  inspi- 
ration :  as  this  has  declined,  so  has  the  other.  Indeed, 
they  are  inseparably  connected  :  for,  as  we  have  seen,  if 
the  Word  of  God  is  written  by  a  plenary  divine  inspira- 
tion, it  must  contain  interior  treasures  within  its  outward 
shell,  necessarily  formed  there  by  its  descent  from  the  In- 
most of  all  things  into  tiie  world  of  nature  ;  whereas  if  it 
is  not  so  written,  it  cannot  include  such  hidden  wisdom  ; 
at  least,  whatever  it  must  thus  contain  beyond  the  letter, 
would  be,  in  the  latter  case,  the  result  of  artificial  contriv- 
ance in  the  writers,  not,  as  in  the  former,  naturally  inhe- 
rent in  writings  so  imparted  :  and  the  looking  at  the  spi- 
ritual sense  thus,  as  a  merely  artificial  contrivance,  has 


78  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OP 

greatly  helped  to  bring  it  into  doubt.  We  have  seen,  al- 
so, that  the  expositions  of  this  sense  usually  offered,  have 
not  been  such  as  were  adapted  to  recommend  it.  Things 
of  little  moment,  savouring  only  of  the  little  minds  of 
men,  and  quite  unworthy  of  the  wisdom  of  Deity,  have 
too  generally  been  produced  as  spiritual  interpretations  : 
and  where  more  elevated  ideas  have  been  presented,  satis- 
factory reasons  not  being  assigned  for  them,  they,  also, 
were  liable  to  be  ascribed  to  the  mere  fancy  of  the  writers. 
Among  the  explications  thus  offered,  there  was  likewise  an 
endless  variety,  and  generally  as  much  disagreement. 
When,  therefore,  so  much  error  was  thus  mixed  up  with 
the  practice  of  spiritual  interpretation,  it  was  not  extraor- 
dinary that,  however  true  in  itself,  discredit  should  in 
time  be  thrown  upon  the  principle  also.  Thus  many  be- 
gan to  shut  their  eyes  to  the  Scripture  testimonies  in  its 
favour  ;  to  regard  it  merely  as  opening  a  door  to  uncer- 
tainty and  confusion  ;  and  to  insist  that  the  letter  of  the 
Holy  Word  should  alone  be  studied,  as  the  only  basis  of 
certainty,  and  as  containing,  in  fact,  all  that  was  intended 
to  be  revealed. 

Nothing  can  be  farther  from  mv  intention,  than  to  de- 
predate,  in  the  slighest  degree,  the  literal  sense  of  the 
Scriptures,  or  the  importance  of  studying  it  with  dili- 
gence :  on  the  contrary,  I  am  fully  sensible  of  the  obliga- 
tions which  the  Christian  Avorld  owes  to  the  learned  mo- 
derns, who  have  endeavoured  to  revive  a  knowledge  of 
the  original  languages  of  Holy  Writ,  and  to  restore  the 
true  import  of  its  words  and  phrases.  Their  labours  have 
furnished  the  bildical  student  of  our  days  with  more  effi- 
cient helps  to  the  right  understanding  of  the  letter  of  the 
saci-ed  pages,  than  have  been  before  enjoyed  since  the 
times  when  Hebrew  and  Greek  were  living  languages:  and 
if  the  partial  neglect,  or  even  denial,  of  the  spiritual  sense, 
was  necessary  to  turn  men's  minds  to  the  study  of  the  lite- 
ral sense,  with  the  concentration  of  powers  necessary  to  its 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  79 

complete  elucidation  ;  we  may  see,  in  the  end  for  which 
this  was  permitted,  an  object  worthy  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence ;  for  Ave  see  tlie  means  hereby  provided,  by  which 
the  study  of  the  spiritual  sense  may  be  placed  on  a  safer 
basis  than  it  ever  stood  upon  before.  Most  heartily  do  I 
concur  in  the  observation  of  Bishop  Lowth,  that  "the 
deep  and  recondite  senses"  of  Scripture  "  must  owe  all 
their  weight  and  solidity  to  the  just  and  accurate  inter- 
pretation of  the  words.  For  whatever  senses  are  supposed 
to  be  included  in  the  Prophet's  words.  Spiritual,  Mystical, 
Allegorical,  Analogical,  or  the  like,  they  must  all  entirely 
depend  on  the  literal  sense.  This  is  the  only  foundation 
upon  which  such  interpretations  can  be  securely  raised  ; 
and  if  this  is  not  firmly  and  well  established,  all  that  is 
built  upon  it  will  fall  to  the  ground."*  Every  one  must 
also  admit  the  following  remark  to  be  equally  true  and 
candid  :  "  Strange  and  absurd  deductions  of  notions  and 
ideas,  foreign  to  the  author's  drift  and  design,  will  often 
arise  from  the  invention  of  Commentators,  who  have  no- 
thing but  an  inaccurate  translation  to  work  upon.  This 
was  the  case  of  the  generality  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Christ- 
ian Cliurch,  who  wrote  comments  upon  the  Old  Testa- 
ment :  and  it  is  no  wonder,  that  we  find  them  of  so  little 
service  in  leading  us  into  the  true  meaning  and  deep  sense 
of  the  Prophetic  Writings."  Whoever  tlien  assists  us  bet- 
ter to  understand  the  letter  of  the  Scriptures,  is  entitled  to 
our  thanks;  and  to  our  forgiveness  if,  while  intent  on  this, 
he  should  have  undervalued  their  spirit. 

But  the  literal  sense  of  Scripture,  and  the  right  under- 
standing of  it,  have  also  important  uses  of  their  own,  in- 
dependently of  that  which  they  furnish  in  yielding  a  foun- 
dation for  the  hioher  meaning  to  rest  on.  Although  there 
is  a  great  part  of  the  Word  of  God,  which,  without  the 
spiritual  sense,  would  be  quite  useless  as  to  any  spiritual 

"  Lowtli's  Isaiali.  Prcl.  Dis. 


80  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

improvement,  yet  there  are  other  parts  in  which  the  most 
important  truths  are  presented  to  view  in  the  very  letter  ; 
and  this  in  sufficient  abundance  to  establish  all   the  points 
of  faith   that   ought   to   be   insisted   upon  in  the  codes  of 
Christian  instruction.     Unquestionably,  all  doctrine  should 
be  drawn  from  the  literal  sense,  and  proved  by  it:  by  this, 
likewise,  should  all  controversies  be  decided:  and  nothing 
which  cannot   thus  be  shown  and  established,  should  be 
considered  as  binding   upon   the  conscience   of  any  one  : 
otherwise,  there  would  indeed  be  reason  to  complain  of 
uncertainty  in  regard  to  the  foundations  of  our  faith;  since 
the  spiritual  sense  of  any   particular  text,  though  capable 
of  being  clearly  exhibited  to  the  intellectual  eye,  can  never 
appear  so  unquestionable  to  a  mind  that  judges  solely  on 
the  evidence  of  the  senses,  as  a  statement  of  the  same  truth 
in  plain  words.     The  letter  of  the  Holy  Word  is  therefore 
so  constructed,  that  the  doctrines  most  necessary  to  salva- 
tion may  therein  be    openly  discerned.     Although  the  di- 
vine truth  and  wisdom  contained   in  the   Scriptures,  only 
shine  with  all  tlieir  glory  in   the  spiritual  sense,  they  do 
not  assume  their  full  power,  till  they  appear   in  a  plain 
statement  in  the  letter;  as  the  energies  of  the  human  mind, 
assume,  as  their  instrument  of  action,  the  human  hand. 
We  have  compared,  in  a  former  part  of  this   Lecture,  the 
letter  of  the  Word   of  God  to  the  skin  that  covers  the 
body,  and  its  hidden  contents  to  the  interior  organs  and 
members  ;   but,  to  illustrate  the  present  subject,  the  Holy 
Word  in  general    may  be  compared  to  a  beautiful  female, 
clothed  in  becoming  drapery,  but  whose  face  and  hands 
remain  uncovered  :  thus,  while  the  greater  part  of  the  let- 
ter of  the  Scriptures  consists  of  truths  veiled  over  by  natu- 
ral images,  which  cannot  be  decyphered  without  a  key, 
the  things  most  indispensable  to  be  known  are  openly  dis- 
played. 

The  spiritual  sense  of  Scripture  is  not  however  without 
its  use,  in  the  frnming  of  systems  of  doctrine  also  :   but  its 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  81 

use  here  will  be,  not  to  present  the  truths  wliich  arc  to  be 
believed,  independently  of  the  statements  of  the  letter,  but 
to  prevent  us  from  mistaking  one  of  the  two  classes  of  pas- 
sages just  alluded  to  for  the  other,  and  thus  bringing  pro- 
minently forward,  and  understanding  according  to  their 
outward  exj^ression,  some  obscure  texts,  as  if  (to  carry  on 
our  comparison)  they  belonged  to  an  important  feature  of 
the  face,  while  they  form  part,  in  reality,  of  the  skirt  of 
the  garment.  Eveiy  one  knows  that  tliere  are  statements 
in  the  Scriptures  which  apj)ear  to  be  in  opposition  to  each 
other  ;  as  when  it  is  sometimes  said  of  the  Divine  Being, 
that  he  repenteth,*  and  at  others,  that  he  repenteth  not.f 
It  is  evident  that  both  these  assertions  cannot  be  true  in 
the  same  sense  :  and  yet,  if  they  equally  form  part  of  the 
Word  of  God,  they  must  both  be  true  in  some  sense:  what 
then  is  the  plain  inference,  but  that  the  one  passage  delivers 
the  naked  truth,  the  other,  the  truth  covered  with  the  veil  of 
a  mere  appearance  taken  from  human  ideas?  In  both  de- 
clarations, a  spiritual  sense  is  included  :  but  in  the  one  it 
only  exalts  and  extends,  in  the  other  it  is  required  to  cor- 
rect and  rectify,  the  statement  of  the  letter.  Deny  any 
sense  beyond  the  letter,  and  you  fix  such  passages  in  irre- 
concilable opposition:  you  have  then  no  alternative,  if  you 
still  believe  the  Scriptures  to  contain  a  system  of  truth, 
but  to  fix  your  attention  wholly  on  the  one  class  of  pas- 
sages, and  slur  over  the  other  without  notice  :  and  you 
may  even  select  for  your  preference  the  class  of  passages 
which  present  the  truth  under  a  veil,  and  may  confirm  in 
your  mind,  as  the  genuine  truth,  the  outward  enigmatical 
expression,  to  the  neglect  of  the  truth  itself,  which  other 
passages  openly  discover.  This  has  been  the  immediate 
origin  (though  not  the  final  cause,)  of  all  the  mistakes, 
which,  in  various  ages,  have  been  obtruded  on  the  world 
as  the  doctrines  of  the  Scriptures: — an  insight  into  the  in- 

•    Gen.  vi.  6.  1    Numb,  xxiii.  19. 

11 


82  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

terior  meaning  of  the  Sacred  Word  would  have  corrected 
them  at  once. 

We  see  then,  on  the  one  hand,  that  the  most  devoted 
adherents  to  the  letter  of  S -ripture  need  not  oppose  the 
belief  of  its  containing  a  farther  sense  besides,  under  the 
apprehension,  that  this  would  abolish  the  former  :  so  far 
from  making  void  the  letter,  by  viewing  it  in  connexion 
with  the  spirit,  we  thereby  establish  the  letter.  On  the 
other  hand  we  see,  that  a  reference  to  the  spiritual  sense 
is  highly  requisite,  to  secure  us  from  error  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  literal.  Like  soul  and  body,  they  are 
equally  necessary  to  each  other.  As  the  soul,  without  the 
body,  could  not  make  its  existence  perceptible  in  the  world 
of  nature;  so  neither  could  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, without  the  letter,  be  communicated  to  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  natural  world  :  and  as  the  body,  without  the 
soul,  would  be  void  of  life;  so  would  be  the  letter  of  Scrip- 
ture, if  entirely  separate  from  its  spirit.  It  is  the  translu- 
cence  of  the  spirit  through  the  letter  which  makes  this  the 
vehicle  of  conveying  divine  truth  to  the  mind,  and  which 
presents  the  truth,  in  greater  or  less  fulness,  even  to  those 
who  deny  its  distinct  existence  ;  just  as  the  body  of  man 
derives  from  the  soul  the  life  it  exhibits,  even  in  the  case 
of  the  materialist,  who  will  not  believe  that  he  has  a  soul 
within  him.  There  must  be  an  animating  principle  some- 
where ;  and  the  inquiry  must  be  highly  important  which 
would  teach  us  what  it  is. 

But  many  fear  to  admit  this  idea,  in  regard  to  the  Scrip- 
tures, under  the  impression,  that  any  departure  from  the 
letter  must  necessarily  introduce  uncertainty  and  confu- 
sion. The  objection  would  be  well  founded,  if  no  rule 
could  be  laid  down  of  general  application,  but  we  were  to 
be  left  to  mere  conjecture,  every  expositor  being  guided 
solely  by  his  own  fancy  ;  in  which  case,  although,  like 
Justin  Martyr,*  he  might  be  persuaded  that  he  had  been 

«  Dial.  Par  2,  p.  352,  390, 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  8S 

endowed  with  a  special  gift  for  understanding  the  Scrip- 
tures, others,  not  teeing  any  reason  for  his  explanations, 
must  be  prone  to  doubt  their  truth.  But  could  it  be 
shewn  that  the  Scriptures  are  written  throughout  accord- 
ing to  an  immutable  Law  or  Rule,  a  knowledge  of  which 
would,  in  explaining  them,  substitute  certainty  for  con- 
jecture and  cut  off  the  sources  of  vague  interpretation  : — 
then  this  objection,  which  is  tlie  only  plausible  one,  against 
their  containing  a  spiritual  sense,  falls  immediately  to  the 
ground.  That  they  must  be  written  upon  one  uniform 
principle,  follows  as  a  necessary  consequence,  upon  the 
supposition  that  they  proceeded  from  a  plenary  divine  in- 
spiration :  that  they  are  thus  w^ritten,  and  what  the  Law  or 
Rule  is  according  to  which  they  are  written,  we  shall  en- 
deavour to  evince  in  our  subsequent  Lectures. 

Here  then  we  pause  for  the  present.  The  questions 
which  have  been  considered  in  this  Lecture  are  highly  im- 
portant :  we  have  reviewed  them  at  some  length  :  and  I 
hope  sufficient  reason  has  been  shewn,  to  incline  every  se- 
rious and  candid  mind  to  determine  them  in  the  affirma- 
tive. At  least,  I  cannot  think  I  am  myself  deceived  so  far, 
as  to  be  following  an  error  which  has  nothing  to  give  it 
the  air  of  truth  :  I  cannot  but  believe,  that  reasons  which 
appear  to  me  to  establish  beyond  all  doubt  the  spiiitual 
sense  of  the  Scriptures,  must  at,least  appear  to  others  of 
sufficient  weight  to  entitle  the  subject  to  a  full  and  fair 
examination.  This  is  all  that  I  solicit.  I  trust  that  every 
Christian  will  be  ready,  on  sufficient  evidence,  to  accept 
views  which  tend  so  immensely  to  exalt  in  his  estimation 
the  Word  of  God  ;  and  that  the  Deist  also  will  listen  at- 
tentively to  considerations,  which,  if  true,  prove  it  to  be 
the  Word  of  God  indeed. 


LECTURE  III. 


THE    LAW   OH    RULE    EXPLAINED    ACCORDIiXG    TO    WHICH    THE 
SCRIPTURES    ARE    WRITTEN. 

Preliminary  remark,  on  the  Reasons  why  the  Scriptures  are  not 
written  in  plainer  language — Short  Recapitulation.  I.  4/3 
Universal  Rule  of  Interpretation  afforded  in  the  JMutual  Rela- 
tion, which  exists  by  creation,  between  things  natural  or  mate- 
rial, spintual  or  moral,  and  divine.  II.  The  nature  of  this 
Relation  considered  : — 1.  The  whole  Universe  an  out-hirih 
from  the  Deity  lohence  it  bears,  in  all  its  parts,  an  immutable 
relation  to  the  attributes  which  belong  to  the  Divine  Essence. 
— 2.  That  on  all  things  belonging  to  the  moral,  intellectual:, 
and  spiritual  worlds,  the  Divine  Creator  has  thus  first  stamped 
a  certain  image  of  himself : — 3.  And  that  he  has  done  the 
same,  though  under  a  totally  different  form,  on  all  the  objects 
of  outward  and  material  nature  : — 4.  Whence  all  things  in 
J^ature,  being  outward  productions  from  inward  essences,  are 
natural,  sensible,  and  material  types  of  moral,  intellectual,  and 
spiritual  antitypes,  and  finally  of  their  prototypes  in  God.  III. 
That,  were  the  Relation  between  these  different  orders  of  exist- 
ences fully  understood,  a  style  of  icriting  might  be  constructed, 
in  xohich,  while  none  but  natural  images  were  used,  purely  in- 
tellectual ideas  should  be  most  fully  expressed. — 1 .  That  this 
is  in  a  great  measure  intuitively  perceived  by  all  mankind,  and 
is  the  origin  of  many  forms  of  speech  in  common  use. — 2. 
Palpable  instances  of  the  occurrence  of  such  forms  of  speech  in 
the  Holy  Word. — IV.  That  in  ancient  times  this  constant  Re- 
lation between  things  natural,  moral  or  spiritual,  and  divine. 


PLENARY    INSPIRATION,    &C.  85 

was  extensively  understood  ; — 1 .  Proved  from  intimations 
in  the  Idstorical  parts  of  Scripture.  2.  Confirmatory  re- 
marks, drawn  Jrom  the  mythological  fables  of  tJie  Greeks  and 
Asiatics,  and  the  Hieroglyphics  oj  Egypt. — V.  That  in  this 
Relation,  then,  is  to  be  found  the  Laio  or  Rule  according  to 
which  the  Scriptures  are  written,  and  that  a  knoicledge  of  it 
will  afford  the  key  by  which  their  "  dark  sayings^''  must  be 
decxjphered. 


E  now  approach  a  part  of  our  inquii  y  of  the  very 
greatest  importance  ;  for  we  are  now  to  investigate  what 
the  Law  or  Rule  is,  by  which  the  Holy  Scriptures  or 
Word  of  God  are  written  ;  and  this,  being  a  subject  of 
deep  investigation,  will  require  to  be  gone  into  with  very 
close  and  serious  attention.  It  is  not  indeed,  in  itself,  ex- 
tremely difficult  of  comprehension  :  on  the  contrary,  lam 
satisfied  that  it  is  capable  of  being  made  very  plain  and 
easy  ;  and  even,  if  sufficient  attention  be  given,  that  the 
arguments  and  instances  by  which  it  may  be  supported, 
will  be  found  as  interesting,  as  the  subject  itself  is  great 
and  important  :  but  it  is  usual  with  many,  in  this  superfi- 
cial age,  to  be  indisposed  to  any  inquiry  that  requires  the 
exercise  of  fixed  attention.  Especially  on  the  sul^ject  of 
religion,  it  is  common,  with  great  numbers,  to  be  unwill- 
ing to  regard  any  thing  which  is  not  obvious  at  first  sight. 
Indeed,  this  forms  one  of  the  objections  of  Deists  against 
the  Christian  Revelation  in  general  ;  and  will  perhaps  be 
still  more  positively  urged  against  the  view  of  it,  which 
we  are  endeavouring  to  establish  :  we  will  therefore  here 
meet  it  with  a  few  remarks. 

The  Scriptures  contain  many  things,  the  Deists  allege, 
which,  it  is  allowed  on  all  hands,  are  hard  to  be  under- 
stood ;  if  then  the  belief  of  thein  is  so  important  to  man's 
welfare,  whv,  they  demand,  is  not  some  standing  miracle 


86  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

wrought  to  assure  us  of  their  truth  ?  And  one  of  the  most 
determined  infidels  lias  insolei>tly  suggested,  as  a  suitable 
expedient,*  that  God  ought  to  cause  a  permanent  inscrip- 
tion to  appear  on  the  face  of  the  sun,  assuring  mankind, 
through  all  countries  and  all  ages,  that  the  Scriptures  are 
true.  But  they  who  propose  such  expedients  as  these, 
only  shew  how  utterly  ignorant  they  are,  both  of  tlie  na- 
ture of  God,  and  of  the  nature  of  man  ;  and  how  destitute 
they  are  of  any  idea  of  the  laws  of  infinite  wisdom,  by 
which  God  regulates  his  dealings  with  man.  A  conviction 
forced  upon  man  against  his  will,  would  not  be  permanent, 
nor  really  beneficial  to  him  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  it 
woidd  expose  him  to  the  danger  of  incurring  far  greater 
guilt  than  he  can  possibly  rush  into  while  he  is  left  to  the 
uncontrolled  exercise  of  his  own  freedom,  and  while  the 
light  of  Divine  Truth  is  not  poured  on  his  mind  with  such 
lustre,  as  absolutely  to  compel  his  assent.  It  is  for  this 
reason,  among  others,  that  divine  revelation  is  always 
couched  in  language  that  is  in  a  great  measure  parabolic 
and  obscure.  Though  capa])le  of  being  easily  understood, 
at  least  as  to  every  thing  essential,  by  those  who  are  in- 
fluenced by  a  sincere  desire  to  know  the  will  of  God  in 
order  that  they  may  do  it, — according  to  the  divine  de- 
claration of  Jesus  Christ — "  If  any  man  will  do  his  will, 
he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine  whether  it  be  of  God  ;"f — 
it  yet  is  not  made  so  plain  throughout,  as  to  aggravate  the 
condemnation  of  those,  who,  being  indisposed  to  do  his 
will,  and  only  anxious  to  find  pretences  to  free  themselves 
from  the  obligation  of  doing  it,  would  be,  in  fact,  the 
more  offended  at  any  revelation,  just  in  proportion  as 
they  found  it  more  difficult  to  devise  plausible  reasons  for 
denying  its  authority.  The  former  class  of  persons — the 
humble  inquirers, — are  meant  by  the  disciples,  and  the 
latter — the  pertinacious   cavillers, — by  the  "  others, ''   or 

*  Painp.  Agp  of  Rrn^on,  P.irt  3.  i   John  vii.  17. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &LC.  87 

"  them  that  are  without,"  in  that  saying  of  Jesus  Christ  in 
wliich  he  developes  the  Law  of  Divine  Mercy  and  Wisdom 
on  this  subject  :  "  To  you,"  he  says,  addressing  the  disci- 
ples, "it  is  given  to  know  tlie  mysteries  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  ;  but  to  others,  in  paral)les  ;  that  seeing  tiiey 
might  see  and  not  perceive,  and  hearing  they  might  hear 
and  not  understand  :"*  by  whicli  words  is  not  meant  that 
an  arbitrary  distinction  is  made  between  one  portion  of 
mankind  and  the  rest,  but  that  divine  revelation  is  so 
framed,  as  not  to  force  conviction  on  the  understanding, 
where  there  is  a  determined  resistance  in  the  will  ;  be- 
cause, if  such  persons  should  be  made  to  assent  for  a  time, 
their  evil  propensities  would  afterwards  break  out  and 
carry  them  away  :  they  would  then  deny  the  clearest  de- 
monstrations of  divine  truth  ;  and  even  had  miracles  been 
wrought  for  their  conviction,  they  would  deny  these  also, 
resolving  them  into  some  unaccountable  operations  of  na- 
ture. The  guilt  thus  incurred  would  be  that  of  profana- 
tion. This  state  is  described  by  Jesus  Christ  in  the  mys- 
terious parable  of  the  man  out  of  whom  the  evil  spirit 
went,  but  who,  finding  no  rest  in  his  new  state,  returned 
to  his  former  house,  taking  with  him  seven  other  spirits 
more  wicked  than  the  other  ;  of  whom  the  Lord  says, 
"  And  the  last  state  of  that  man  is  worse  than  the  first. "f 
The  first  state  of  this  man,  is  the  state  of  unreformed  man 
in  general  :  the  going  out  of  the  evil  spirit,  is  his  com- 
mencement of  a  new  order  of  life,  in  consequence  of  open- 
inff  his  mind  to  a  conviction  of  the  truth  of  divine  revela- 
tion  and  its  doctrines,  which  banishes  for  a  tims  his  spirit 
of  incredulity  :  his  walking  through  dry  places,  seeking 
rest  and  finding  none,  implies,  that  he  finds  his  new  state 
to  be  without  enjoyment,  because  in  contrariety  to  the 
lusts  which  were  delightful  to  him,  and  which  he  is  still 
unwilling  to  relinquish  :  his  returning  to  the  house  from 

*  Luke  viii.  10.     Mark  iv.  11.  t  Matt.  xii.  4.5. 


83  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

which  he  came  out,  is  a  relapse  into  his  former  stale  of 
mind  ;  but  that  this  state  is  now  attended  with  profana- 
tion, and  is  incomparably  worse  than  before,  because,  to 
return  to  it,  he  is  obliged  to  extinguish  the  convictions  he 
had  received,  is  expressed  by  its  being  said,  that  he  took 
with  him  seven  other  spirits  more  wicked  than  himself, 
and  that  the  last  state  of  that  man  is  worse  than  the  first. 
It  is,  then,  because  Divine  Providence  is  ever  watcliful  to 
prevent  man  from  falling  into  so  clej)lorable  a  state  as  this, 
that  difficulties  are  allowed  to  appear  on  the  surface  of  the 
Word  of  God  ;  and  it  is  for  this,  among  other  reasons, 
that  it  is  so  generally  written  in  the  language  of  parable. 

I  expect,  however,  that  the  infidel  (by  which  term  I 
mean  the  confirmed  denier  of  revelation, — one  whose  denial 
is  grounded  in  a  wish  to  justify  himself  in  the  gratification 
of  his  corrupt  passions,)  will  call  this,  preaching.  Be  it 
so.  I  would  however  entreat  him  seriously  to  look  at  the 
doctrine  so  preached.  He  must,  I  am  sure,  find  it  agree- 
able to  the  purest  reason,  though  such  as  reason,  unen- 
lightened by  revelation,  might  not  have  been  able  to  dis- 
cover. He  must  also  admit,  that  the  economy  of  Divine 
Providence  which  the  doctrine  unfolds,  is  equally  wise 
and  beneficent, — such  as  might  be  expected  to  direct  the 
conduct  of  a  Being  of  ijifinite  wisdom  and  goodness,  in  his 
dealings  with  a  frail  creature,  like  man.  AVhether  then 
this  be  preaching  or  philosophizing y  there  is  assuredly  a 
strong  presumption  that  it  is  pure  truth  :  and  this  should 
recommend  it  to  the  favourable  attention  of  those,  who 
affect  to  hold  pure  truth  in  so  much  veneration.  Would 
mankind  but  view  the  Scriptures  according  to  their  real 
nature,  as  faintly  described  in  our  last  Lecture,  and  un- 
derstand them  by  the  Rule  which  we  are  next  to  endeav- 
our to  explain,  they  would  find  them  philosophizing 
according  to  the  purest  truth  in  every  part, — every 
where  preaching  the  most  soul-exalting  lessons  of  heavenly 
wisdom  ! 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    SiLC.  89 

I  have  been  led  to  make  these  remarks,  that  we  might 
not  aj)pear  to  leave  too  long  out  of  sight  one  of  tlie  objects 
of  ihe=e  Lectures, — the  refutation  of  infidel  objections  to 
divine  revelation, — while  we  are  chiefly  intent   upon  the 
other, — the  proof  of  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Word 
of  God  : — though  this,  indeed,  carries  with  it  the  former  : 
for  when  once  it  is  seen  that  the  AVord  of  God  is  actually 
written    by    a  plenary  divine  inspiration,   all    objections 
against  its  being  received  as  such,   fall  to  the   ground  of 
course.     In  our  last  Lecture,  then,  we  endeavoured  to  pre- 
pare the  way   for  the  establishment   of  this  point.     We 
shewed,  first,  that  the  Scriptures  do  claim  for  themselves 
the  title,  "  tlie  Word  of  God,"  and  do  affirm  of  themselves, 
that  they  are  written  by  tlie  fullest  inspiration   of  God. 
We   then    considered,    from    rational    and    pliilosophical 
grounds,  what  must  be  the  nature  of  a  composition  which 
has  God  for  its  Author  ;  when  we  found  that  the  Word  of 
God  must  be  exactly  like  his  works, — that  as  these  contain 
within  them  wonderful  parts  which  do  not  appear  on  their 
surface,  so  must  the  Word  of  God  include  in  its  bosom 
boundless  stores  of  wisdom  beyond  what  appears   on  a 
superficial   inspection.     In  the  third  place,  we  examined 
whether  tliis  conclusion  of  reason  is  supported  by  any 
plain  declarations  of  Scripture  ;  of  Avhich  many  instances 
Avere  presented  :  indeed  we  found  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
directing  his  hearers  to  regard  the  inward  spirit  and  life  of 
his  words,  and  not  to  suppose  his  meaning  confined  to  the 
outward  expression  :  we  ascertained,  also,  that   the  Apos- 
tles, in  their  writings,  continually  testify  to   the  existence 
of  an  inward  or  spiritual  sense  throughout  the  Word  of 
God  ;  and  we  demonstrated,  in  addition,  that  hence  this 
belief,  in  the  days  of  primitive  Christianity,  was  universal  ; 
that,  for  many  ages,  it  was  never  doubted  ;  and  that  it  has 
continued  to  be  the  opinion,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  of 
many  intelligent  theological  writers  down  to  the  present 
day.     We  take  this  testimony  then,  joined  with  the  inher- 
it 


90  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

ent  reason  of  the  thing  itself,  to  be  conclusive  as  to  the 
reality  of  the  fact — that  the  Word  of  God  does,  in  every 
j)art,  contain  a  spiritual  sense,  treating  of  things  in  which 
man  is  interested  as  a  spiritual  being  and  an  heir  of  im- 
mortality. 

We  are  not  obliged,  however,  be  it  again  remembered, 
nor  do  we  by  any  means  undertake,  because  we  conceive 
the  fact, — that  the  Scriptures  contain  a  meaning  beyond 
the  letter, — to  be  a  matter  of  absolute  certainty,  to  defend 
all  the  interpretations  which  at  various  times  have  been 
offered  to  the  world,  as  resulting  from,  or  as  being,  this 
spiritual  sense :  we  are  even  ready  to  allow,  that  very 
idle  and  unfounded  explications  have  sometimes  been  ob- 
truded on  the  public,  under  the  pretended  sanction  of  this 
great  general  truth  ;  and  we  are  not  surprised  that  some 
of  the  critics,  disgusted  with  the  uncertainty  which  pre- 
vailed in  the  efforts  to  decypher  the  spiritual  sense,  by 
persons  who  possessed  no  certain  rule  to  guide  them  in 
the  attempt,  have  relinquished  the  principle  altogether, 
and  have  begun  to  teach,  that  the  Scriptures  are  to  be  un- 
derstood in  their  literal  sense  alone.  But  we  contend  most 
decidedly,  that  the  abuse  of  a  good  principle  is  no  argu- 
ment against  its  legitimate  use.  In  all  other  cases  this 
maxim  is  accepted  as  an  axiom  :  if  Ave  deny  it,  we  must 
deny  every  thing  ;  at  least  we  must  involve  ourselves  in 
the  cheerless  gloom  of  universal  scepticism.  Indeed,  to 
argue  from  the  abuse  of  any  sentiment  against  its  use,  will 
plunge  us  continually  into  the  most  palpable  absurdities. 
It  is  a  truth,  for  instance,  which  all  men  of  reason  admit, 
that  there  is  a  God.  We  find  this  belief  universal  through- 
out the  world.  Now  because  it  is  unquestionably  true 
that  there  is  a  God,  it  certainly  by  no  means  follows,  that 
all  the  notions  which  all  nations  and  religions  have  taught 
respecting  him,  are  true  likewise  :  but  most  assuredly  it 
does  not  follow,  because  most  nations  and  religions  have 
erred  in  their  notions  of  God,  that,  therefore,  there  is  no 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &,C.  01 

God  at  all  :  on  the  contrary,  the  general  belief,  in  some 
shape  or  other,  in  the  existence  of  a  God,  however  super- 
stition and  ignorance  may  have  clouded  the  pure  truth 
respecting  his  nature  and  the  mode  of  his  existence,  has 
always  been  regarded  as  an  insuperable  argument  in  favour 
of  tiie  sentiment,  that  the  existence  of  a  Divine  Being  is 
certain,  beyond  dispute.  Equally  strong  is  the  argument, 
from  the  general  belief  of  there  being  a  spiritual  sense  in 
the  Scriptures,  that  there  really  is  such  a  sense  ;  and  in- 
consistent or  unfounded  notions  respecting  the  nature  of 
that  sense,  no  more  prove  that  there  is  no  such  sense  at  all, 
than  similar  errors  attending  the  belief  in  the  existence  of 
a  God,  can  prove  that  there  is  no  God. 

I.  Now  what  has  been  wanting  to  recommend  the  spi- 
ritual sense  of  the  Word  of  God  to  the  acceptance  of  the 
calm,  reasoning  mind,  has  been,  a  certain  rule  by  which 
it  may  be  decyphered.  Could  such  a  rule  be  shewn  to 
exist,  the  objections  drawn  from  the  tendency  of  the  ad- 
mission of  a  spiritual  sense  to  introduce  uncertainty  and 
confusion  into  the  explanation  of  Scripture,  would,  as 
stated  in  our  last,  fall  at  once  to  the  ground  :  and  the  ex- 
istence of  such  a  sense,  which  multitudes  have  acknow- 
ledged by  a  kind  of  intuitive  perception,  would  then  be 
bottomed  upon  the  clearest  rational  induction  ; — would 
indeed  admit  of  demonstration  not  less  convincing,  though 
of  a  somewhat  different  kind,  than  that  which  evinces  the 
truth  of  any  problem  in  mathematics. 

Such  a  rule,  then,  it  is  conceived,  is  afforded,  in  the 
Mutual  Relation  which  exists  by  creation  between  things 
natural  or  material,  spiritual  or  moral,  and  divine  ;  which 
is  such  that  the  lower  order  of  objects  answers  to  the 
higher,  as  certainly  and  immutably,  as  the  reflection  in  a 
mirror  answers  to  the  substance  producing  it. 

But,  alas  !  though  this  was  a  subject  well  understood  in 
the  times  of  remote  antiquity,  it  now  is  not  only  generally 


92  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

unknown  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  written  according 
to  this  Revelation,  from  which,  therefore,  we  may  obtain 
a  Universal  Rule  for  their  interpretation  ;  but  it  is  even 
far  from  being  generally  known  that  any  such  relation  ex- 
ists. Approximations  have  indeed  been  recently  made  to- 
wards its  re-discovery,  as  will  be  noticed  in  the  sequel  ; 
and  there  is  reason  to  expect  that,  ere  long,  it  will  serious- 
ly occupy  the  attention  of  the  scientific  and  religious  pub- 
lic. In  the  hope  of  promoting  this  desirable  event  ;  and 
because  all  that  is  to  follow  in  these  Lectures  will  refer  to 
it  as  a  first  principle  ;  a  slight  attempt  shall  here  be  made 
to  give  a  general  idea  of  its  Nature. 

II.  That  there  exists,  by  the  laws  of  creation,  a  Mutual 
Relation  between  things  natural  or  material,  spiritual  or 
moral,   and  divine,  may  be  concluded  from  the  indisput- 
able fact,  that  everything  in  a  lower  sphere  of  existence  is 
produced  for  the  sake  of  something  in  a  higher  ;  and  if  so, 
every  higher  thing,   for  the  sake  of  which  any  object  of  a 
lower  kind  is  produced,  is  the  proximate  cause,  by  deriva- 
tion from  the  First  Cause,    of  the  existence  of  the  latter  : 
and  there  must   be  an  uninterrupted    series  of  such  causes 
and  effects,  each  intermediate   efiect    becoming,  in  succes- 
sion, a  proximate  cause  of  existence  to  something  beneath 
it,  from  the  First  Cause  itself,  to  the  lowest  effects  of  all. 
Every  proximate  cause,  also,  by  the  urgency,    and  for  the 
sake  of  which,   something   beneath   it  was   produced,  is, 
likewise,    the   real  essence,   or  ground  of  being,  of  such 
lower  production,  which,    on  its  part,   is  thus  an  outward 
form,  manifesting  the  existence   of  sucli    distinct    essence. 
This  will  lead  us  to  see,    that  the  lower  orders  of  objects 
must  answer  to  the  higher,   as    certainly  and   immutably, 
as  the  reflection  in  a  mirror   answers  to  the  substance  pro- 
ducing it.     Tiuis,  for  example,  every  lower  thing  that  ex 
ists  is  produced  to  serve,  either  more  nearly  or  remotely, 
to  the  use  of  jnan  :  this  beinir  the  second  cause  of  its  exist- 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  93 

ence,  the  thing  itself  is  actually  an  image,  under  a  diiTerent 
form,  of  something  that  is  in  man  :  and  man  himself  was 
produced  to  satisfy  the  divine  love  of  God — thus  for  the 
sake  of  God,  that  there  might  be  a  being  in  the  world 
capable  of  receiving,  in  a  conscious  manner,  gifts  from  God, 
and  of  returning  them  to  Him  in  love  and  adoration  :  and 
God  himself  thus  being  toman  both  the  proximate  and 
First  Cause  of  his  existence,  man  must  be,  in  a  certain  man- 
ner, an  image  of  God  ;  and  the  most  immediately  so  of  any- 
thing that  the  world  contains.  We  accordingly  are  assur- 
ed by  divine  Revelation,  that  man  was  created  in  tlie  im- 
age and  likeness  of  God.  And  if  man,  altogether,  is  in  a 
certain  manner,  an  image  of  God,  it  follows  evidently,  that 
every  particular  thing  which  exists  in  man,  (so  far  as  he 
stands  in  the  order  of  his  creation,)  is  an  image  of  some- 
thing that  exists  in  God  :  and,  indeed,  every  thing  in  him 
which  is  not  in  the  order  of  his  creation,  but  which  he  has 
introduced  by  the  abuse  of  his  faculties,  still  has  reference 
to  something  that  exists  in  God,  though  not  as  an  image, 
but  as  an  opposite.  In  short,  as  God  is  the  Origin  and 
First  Cause  of  all  things,  it  is  evident,  that  nothing  what- 
ever can  exist  which  has  not  some  sort  of  reference  to 
something  that  is  in  Him  ;  which  reference  is  nearer  or 
more  remote,  in  proportion  as  the  sphere  in  which  it 
stands  is  nearer  to  the  divine  centre  or  to  the  extreme  cir- 
cumference of  the  universe.  Thus  things  natural  and 
material  bear  a  secret  relation  to  things  moral  and  spirit- 
ual, and  these  again  to  things  divine. 

1.  This  will  be  seen  yet  more  evidently  when  it  is  con- 
sidered, that  the  proper  mode  of  viewing  the  creation,  is, 
to  regard  it  as  an  Ontbirth  from  the  Deity  ; — as  a  pro- 
duction essentially  distinct  from  the  Producing  Cause,  but 
necessarily  bearing,  through  all  its  parts,  to  that  Infinite 
Cause,  and  to  the  infinite  e^^sential  properties  and  attributes 
existing  in  that  Caure,   a  con:^tant  and  immutable  relation. 


94  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

Among  the  objects  of  the  visible    creation,    man,  the    ac- 
knowledged image  of  his  Maker,  stands  in  the  highest  de- 
gree of  this  relation,   and  the  inert  substances  of  the  mine- 
ral kingdom  in  tlie  lowest.     This  truth  is  not  invalidated 
by  the  fact,    tliat  the   latter  came   first  into   existence.     It 
must  unquestionably  be  true,    that,    in  the  creation  of  the 
world,  the  globe  of  earth  and  water,   or  the  unorganised 
parts  of  its  composition,  though  lowest  in  rank,  must  have 
been  the  first  that  were  formed  :  but  why  .''  because  their 
uses  were  indispensable  to  the   higher  orders  of  existence, 
to  afford  them  nutriment  and    a  basis.     Then,    doubtless, 
the  vegetable    kingdom    succeeded,  because,  without  both 
these,  animals  could  not  exist.     Thus  the  higher  orders  of 
creatures    must  have  appeared  by  degrees,   and  last  of  all 
man  himself;  as  he  could  not  begin  to  exist  till  everything 
necessary  for   his    use  was  provided.     Still  it  Avas  for  the 
sake  of  man  that  all  inferior  things  were  produced  :  man 
was  in   the  divine  mind  through  the  whole  process  :  thus 
everything  produced  was  an  image  of  something  that  was 
to  exist  in  him,  and  the  spiritual  and  moral  essences  of  all 
inferior  tilings  w^ere  concentrated   in  him  ;  as  he    himself 
was  to  be  an  image  of  the  Creator,   in  whom  alone  exist, 
in  their  first  principles  and  divine  essences,  all  the  powers, 
faculties,  and  virtues,  which  were  to  exist  derivatively  in 
man.     In  fact,  the  Deity,  in  the  work  of  creation,  cannot 
be  considered  as  operating  at   random,   producing  things 
which    have   not    in    himself  their   divine    prototypes  or 
grounds  of  being.     To  produce    such   things,  tlie  Creator 
must  step  out  of   Himself,    which   is   impossible.     As   the 
tabernacle  with  everything  in  it,  which  Moses  was  instruct- 
ed to  make,  was  to  be  made  after  the  pattern   or   antitype 
shewn  to  him  in    the   mount,*   or  was   to    be  an  outward 
ty}:)e  of  such  things  as  exist  in  heaven  ;  so,  no  doubt,  when 
God  (treated  heaven    and  earth  with   their  inhabitants,  he 
formed  every  thing  after  the   image  of  divine  prototypes 

*  Exod.  XXV.  40,  ixvi.  30. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  95 

existing  in  liimself  ; — after  the  pattern  of  the  inefTublc  at- 
tributes and  perfections  wliich  exist  only  in  his  own  divine 
essence.  Thus  the  Avhole  universe,  instead  of  lieing,  as  it 
is  sometimes  inconsiderately  regarded,  a  production  of 
mere  caprice,  little  better  than  the  offspring  of  blind  chance, 
was  unquestionably,  vvdiat  may  most  expressively  be  called, 
an  Outbirth  of  the  Deity  :  and  if  so,  it  must  bear,  in  all  its 
parts,  an  immutable  relation  to  the  attributes  or  essential 
properties,  which  belong  to  the  nature  of  that  Omnipo- 
tent Beingr. 

2.  If  then  the  whole  Universe  is  thus  an  Outbirth  from 
the  Deity,  and  hence  bears,  in  all  its  parts,  an  immutable 
relation  to  Him  who  gave  it  birth  ;  this  relation  must  be 
more  immediately  perceptible  in  the  spiritual  part  of  the 
creation.  If,  on  all  things  that  exist,  the  Divine  Creator 
has  stamped,  in  some  mode  or  other,  a  certain  image  of 
himself,  more  especially  must  all  things  belonging  to  the 
moral,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  worlds,  be  marked  with 
that  image.  We  will  endeavour  to  make  this  plain,  by 
considering  the  two  most  important  particulars  in  which 
the  divine  image  is  stamped  on  man — the  head  of  the  visi- 
ble creation  :  for  extensive  as  this  subject  is  in  itself,  it 
happily  can  be  reduced  to  a  few  general  principles  ;  and 
when  these  are  distinctly  seen,  the  immense  multitude  of 
particulars  into  which  it  diverges  will  create  no  confusion. 

That  there  are  two  general  principles  to  which  all  the 
infinities  which  compose  the  divine  nature  have  reference, 
and  to  which,  in  like  manner,  all  that  man  possesses  by  de- 
rivation and  gift  from  his  Maker  have  some  relation,  Avould 
be  evident  to  any  one  who  should  deeply  examine  the  sub- 
ject :  this,  also,  is  pointed  out  by  numerous  passages  of 
Scripture.  Thus  in  the  account  of  the  origin  of  the  hu- 
man race,  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  it  is  observable, 
that  two  terms  are  employed  to  describe  the  relation  which 
man  bear?  to  God.     It  is  not  only  said  that  man  was  pro- 


96  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

j)Osed  to  be  created  in  the  image  of  God,  but  also  in  his 
likeness  ;  evidently  implying,  unless  we  charged  the  sacred 
text  with  unmeaning  tautology,  that  there  are  two  general 
thino-s  in  which  man  was  designed  to  resemble  his  Maker. 
"  God  said,  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image^  after  our  like- 
ness.''^* What  are  we  to  suppose  is  intended  by  the  divine 
Word,  when  it  manifestly  points  to  two  distinct  things  in 
which  man  was  created  a  resemblance  of  his  Creator  ? 
What  can  be  intended,  but  an  allusion  to  the  same  truth 
as  philosophy  also  brings  us  acquainted  with  ; — that  man 
is  formed  with  distinct  faculties,  designed  for  the  reception 
of  the  two  leading  attributes  which  pre-eminently  charac- 
terize the  Divine  Nature  ? 

It  is  generally  acknowledged,  that  the  two  leading  attri- 
butes in  the  nature  of  the  Deity,  are  Infinite  Love  and  In- 
finite Wisdom,  or,  wliat  amounts  to  the  same,  Infinite 
Goodness  and  Infinite  Truth, — for  what  is  Love,  essential- 
ly, but  Benevolence,  and  v,  hat  is  Benevolence  but  Good- 
ness ? — so,  what  is  Wisdom  but  the  possession  and  judi- 
cious application  of  Truth  ?  That  these  are  the  two  at- 
tributes which  give  the  essential  character  to  the  divine 
natui'e,  is  so  clear  a  truth,  that  it  cannot  be  necessary  to 
oflfer  any  proof  of  it  ;  otherwise  arguments  in  confirmation 
of  it  might  easily  be  drawn,  both  from  the  whole  field  of 
creation  and  the  whole  Word  of  God.  If  the  Lord  had 
not  been  essential  Love,  there  could  never  have  been  any 
creation,  since,  otherwise,  there  could  have  been  no  mo- 
tive capable  of  calling  his  creative  energy  into  action. 
The  Apostle  accordingly  tells  us,  in  the  plainest  language, 
that,  "  God  is  love  :"f  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  a 
most  beautiful  periphrasis,  aflirms  the  same  truth,  when 
he  says,  "  Love  your  enemies,  and  do  good,  and  lend, 
hoping  for  nothing  again  :  and  your  reward  shall  be  great, 
and  ye  shall  be  the  children  of  the  Highest  ;  for  he  is  kind 

*  Gen.  i.  20.  f  1  John  iv.  8,  16. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  97 

unto  the  unthankful  and  to  the  evil  :  be  ye  therefore  merci- 
ful, as  your  Father  also  is  merciful  :"* — than  which,  there 
cannot  be  a  more  decisive  assertion  of  the  unbounded  be- 
nevolence of  the  Divine  Nature. 

But  Love  alone,  tiiough  the  prime  mover  of  all  things, 
is  not  sufficient  for  the  production  of  a  universe.  By  it- 
self, it  can  do  nothing.  It  wills,  intends,  and  jirompts  : 
but  before  it  can  arrive  at  the  ends  it  proposes,  it  must 
seek  for  means  in  another  principle  :  and  no  principle  is 
capable  of  supplying  such  means,  l)ut  Wisdom.  Divine 
Wisdom  or  Divine  Truth,  is  what  is  speciiically  called  in 
Scripture,  "  the  Word,"  taking  tliat  name  from  the  instru- 
ment of  its  enunciation  :  and  of  this  it  is  said,  "  In  the  be- 
ginning was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and 
the  Word  was  God. — All  things  were  made  by  him  [or  it  ;] 
and  without  him  [or  it]  was  not  anything  made  ;"f — plain- 
ly teaching,  that  what  is  here  called  "  the  Word,"  which 
is  easily  seen  to  be  the  Divine  Wisdom  or  Truth,  is  the 
immediate  agent  by  which  Divine  Love  acts  in  the  pro- 
duction of  all  things. 

It  will  then,  I  trust,  be  readily  admitted,  that  Infinite 
Love  and  Wisdom,  in  union,  are  the  two  most  essential 
attributes  of  the  Divine  Nature.  There  are  others,  indeed, 
such  as  Omnipotence  and  Omnipresence,  which,  in  one  re- 
spect, are  equally  essential,  since,  without  them,  God  would 
be  a  limited  Being  :  yet  even  into  these,  the  former  enter, 
and  give  them  their  peculiar  quality.  Thus  the  Divine 
Omnipotence,  we  may  be  certain,  can  never  be  exerted  for 
any  other  object,  than  to  give  effect  to  the  designs  of  Di- 
vine Love  and  Wisdom  ;  and  thus  the  Divine  Love  and 
Wisdom  are,    in  fact,    the  essence  of  the  Divine  Omnipo= 

*  Luke  vi.  35,  36. 

f  John  i.  1,  3.  I  havfi  added  the  words  [or  it,]  because  if  the  Divine  Truth 
be  considered  as  a  distinct  attribute  or  epsential  property  of  the  Being  in  whom 
it  is,  it  must  be  considered,  in  English,  as  of  the  neuter  gender.  The  original 
admits  equally  of  either  mode  of  translalinn. 

13' 


§a 


PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 


tence  :  in  other  words,  Infinite  Power  is  nothing  but  the 
capacity  of  irresistible  exertion,  inherently  belonging  to 
Infinite  Love  and  Wisdom.  We  should  find  all  the  other 
divine  attributes  as  cloi^ely  connected  with,  and  equally  de- 
pendent upon,  these  two. 

Now  the  first  being  in  the  scale  of  the  visible  creation, 
— the  most  exalted  of  the  visible  works  of  the  Creator,  is 
man  :  and  he  is  such,  because  he  was  created  in  the  image 
and  likeness  of  God.  That  he  might  be  capable  of  being 
such  an  image,  he  was  endowed  with  two  faculties  design- 
ed for  the  reception  of  love  and  wisdom  from  his  Maker. 
These  are  known  by  the  names  of  the  Avill  and  the  under- 
standing ;  the  will  being  designed  for  the  reception  of  the 
Divine  Love  or  Good,  and  the  understanding  for  the  re- 
ception of  the  Divine  Wisdom  or  Truth.  I  am  aware, 
that  although  the  ancient  metaphysicians  universally  adopt- 
ed this  most  general  division  of  the  human  faculties,  some 
of  the  moderns  have  doubted  its  correctness,  and  have  been 
disposed  to  resolve  the  whole  into  intellectual  powers 
alone  :  none  however  could  deny  that  man  was  possessed 
of  passions  :  and  all  the  passions  belong  to  the  general 
faculty  called  the  will  :  at  least,  however  some  may  ex- 
plain them,  it  is  as  the  seat  of  the  passions,  all  of  which 
belong  to  some  species  or  other  of  love,  that  we  here  speak 
of  the  will.  I  have  also  been  somewhat  surprised,  on  ob- 
serving that  the  new  philosophic  sect  who  take  the  name 
of  Phrenologists,  though  continually  at  war  with  the  me- 
taphysicians, and  rejecting  with  contempt  the  idea  tliat  all 
the  faculties  of  the  mind  are  to  be  resolved  into  intellect, 
still  disapprove  the  division  into  understanding  and  will  ; 
though  nothing  can  be  plainer  than  that  all  the  faculties  of 
which  the  Phrenologists  make  the  mind  to  consist,  are 
only  specific  divisions  of  these  two  general  ones  :  thus  all 
those  faculties  which  they  designate  as  "  propensities"  and 
"  sentiments,"  and  which,  they  justly  affirm,  have  nothing 
to  do  with    pure   intellect,   belong   to  the  province  of  the 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  99 

will  ;  and  those  which  they  designate  as  "  knowing"  and 
"  reflecting  faculties,"  as  clearly  belong  to  the  province  of 
the  understanding.  Respecting  the  latter,  tliere  can  be  no 
dispute  ;  nor  yet,  I  should  tliink,  respecting  the  former, 
if  it  be  considered,  that  all  the  faculties  to  wliich  they  give 
the  name  of  propensities  and  sentiments,  may  be  resolved 
into  some  species  of  love.  Now  a  man  assuredly  wills 
whatever  he  loves  :  and  thus  every  species  of  love  that  can 
have  an  abode  in  his  mind,  may  with  philosophical  truth 
be  considered  as  belonging  to  a  certain  general  faculty, 
wliich  is  most  correctly  denominated  the  Will.  The  mis- 
take seems  to  have  arisen,  from  confounding  this  general 
faculty,  by  which  we  are  only  inclined  to  certain  actions, 
with  the  determination  to  action,  whicli  is  the  result  of  the 
operations  of  the  Avill  and  understanding  togetiier  ;  and 
which  takes  place,  when  man,  by  his  understanding,  sees  a 
fit  opportunity  of  doing  the  acts,  to  which  his  will  per- 
petually inclines  him.  Undoubtedly,  then,  the  old  general 
division  of  the  mental  powers  into  understanding  and  will, 
so  long  established  by  the  consent  of  all  the  reflecting  part 
of  mankind,  is  destined  to  resume  its  authority  in  the 
schools  of  philosophy,  because  it  owed  its  long  reign 
there,  not  to  the  caprice  of  human  fancy,  but  to  its  firm 
foundation  in  the  unalterable  nature  of  things. 

Now  the  will  and  understanding  of  man  are  a  certain 
image,  however  faint  and  feeble,  of  the  Will  and  Intellect 
Divine  ;  and  the  more  perfectly  so,  in  proportion  as  man 
receives  in  his  will  the  love  and  goodness  of  the  Lord,  and, 
in  his  understanding,  the  divine  wisdom  and  truth.  When 
man  wills  what  the  Lord  wills,  and  when  the  perceptions 
and  thoughts  of  his  understanding  flow  in  agreement  with 
the  divine  truth  ; — thus  when  he  receives  the  affections  of 
his  will,  and  the  })erceptions  of  his  understanding,  without 
perversion,  from  the  infinite  fountain  of  all  goodness  and 
wisdom  in  God  ; — then  he  is  an  image  and  likeness  of  God 


100  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

indeed.  And  even  when  he  entirely  perverts  his  noble  en- 
dowments ;  when  he  makes  the  ruling  affections  of  his  will 
such  as  are  entirely  opposite  to  the  divine  love  and  good- 
ness, and  when  he  adopts  in  his  understanding  a  tissue  of 
false  notions  quite  contrary  to  the  divine  wisdom  and  truth  ; 
he  still,  in  the  faculties  of  will  and  understanding  them- 
selves, retains  an  image,  though  an  inverted  one,  of  his  Di- 
vine Original  :  and  the  relation  is  farther  preserved  in  this 
respect,  that  the  will  still  remains  the  seat  of  love,  though 
it  is  the  love  of  evil,  which  he  accounts  his  good,  and  his 
understanding  still  continues  the  seat  of  his  ideas,  though 
these  are  ideas  of  error,  which  he  accounts  his  truth.  In 
the  way  of  opposition,  he  still  bears  a  relation  to  his  Maker  : 
his  faculties  of  will  and  understanding,  and  the  subjects  of 
each  respectively,  still  are  to  him,  what  pure  love  and 
wisdom  are  to  God  :  a  general  ima"e  remains,  however  in- 
verted  and  distorted. 

As  then  it  is  evident,  that,  in  the  leading  features  of  the 
moral,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  pnrt  of  the  head  of  the 
visible  creation,  man,  the  Divine  Creator  has  thus  stamped 
a  certain  image  of  Himself;  there  can  be  no  reasonable 
doubt  that  the  same  is  true  in  regard  to  all  the  particulars 
of  the  moral,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  worlds.  The  end- 
less varieties  of  such  things  that  exist,  can  only  be  images, 
either  in  direct  or  in  inverted  order,  of  the  infinite  divine 
perfections  that  are  in  God.  In  Him,  all  have  their  essence 
or  inward  ground  of  being  :  To  Him,  they  all  have  an  im- 
mutable Relation  :  So  far  as  they  are  in  order,  they  are 
transcripts  of  something  that  is  in  Him  ;  and  even  when  in 
disorder,  they  point  to  something  in  Him,  of  which  they 
are  the  perversion  :  In  all  the  phsenomena,  then,  of  the 
moral,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  worlds  which  come  under 
our  inspection,  we  might,  had  we  capacities  for  such  dis- 
cernment, read,  as  in  an  image,  the  divine  things  to  which 
they  owe  their  first  birth. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  101 

3.  But  the  images  of  divine  things  that  are  presented  to 
our  observation,  are  not  confined  to  the  phenomena  of  the 
moral,  intellectual,  and  spiiitual  worlds  ;  they  descend 
much  lower,  and  display  them-elves,  though  under  a  to- 
tally different  form,  on  all  the  objects  of  outward  and 
material  nature  ;  first,  on  tlie  corporeal  part  of  man  himself ; 
next,  on  all  the  inferior  animals  :  then  on  the  venetable 
creation  ;  and  lastly,  on  the  inert  mass  of  earth  and  water 
wliich  forms  the  lowest  plane  of  all  ;  not  to  mention  the 
sublime  exhibitions  of  the  same  which  are  piesented  in  the 
phcenomena  of  the  starry  heavens,  it  is  not  then,  merely 
by  a  poetical  figure  that  David  calls  upon  all  such  things 
to  praise  the  Lord,  but  in  reference  to  the  wisdom  concern- 
ing him,  of  which  they  are  the  silent  teachers  :  "  Praise  ye 
him  sun  and  moon,  praise  him,  all  ye  stars  of  light  :  Praise 
him  ye  heavens  of  heavens,  and  ye  waters  that  be  above 
the  heavens  : — Praise  the  Lord  from  the  earth,  ye  dragons 
and  all  deeps  ;  fire  and  hail,  snow  and  vapoui's,  stormy 
wind  fulfilling  his  word  ;  moimtains  and  all  hills,  fruitful 
trees  and  all  cedars  ;  beasts  and  all  cattle,  creeping  things 
and  flying  fowl."*  And  I  have  little  doubt  that  Paul 
meant  to  refer  to  the  same  fact  when  he  said,  "  The  invi- 
sible things  of  God,  from  the  creation  of  the  world  are 
clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  that  are  made; 
even  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead  ;"f  though  I  do  not 
quote  this  as  a  proof,  because  the  words  wa?/be  understood 
in  the  merely  common  and  popular  sense. 

(I.)  We  will  again  illustrate  the  subject  by  an  example 
taken  from  man.  As  man  has  two  faculties  in  his  mind 
which  image  forth,  in  an  eminent  manner,  the  two  great- 
est essential  properties  of  his  Creator  ;  so  has  he  also  two 
organs  in  his  body,  which,  more  remotely,  hav^e  the  same 
relation  :  answering,  however,  more  immediately,  to  the 
two  great  faculties  of  his  mind.     These  two  bodily  organs 


^  Fs.  cxlviii.  3,  1,  7  to  10.  f  Rom.  i.  20. 


102  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

are  the  heart  and  lungs.  As  it  is  on  his  will  and  under- 
standing that  the  life  of  his  spiritual  part  depends  ;  so  is  it 
on  the  heart  and  lungs  that  the  life  of  his  corporeal  frame 
depends.  What  the  will  and  understanding  are  to  the 
mind,  the  heart  and  lungs  are  to  the  body:  they  answer  to 
them  in  a  lower  sphere  :  they  are  exact  images  of  them. 
It  is  on  this  account  that  so  frequent  mention  is  made,  in 
Sacred  Writ,  of  the  heart  and  soul.  It  is  well  known  that 
the  word  "  soul,"  in  the  Scriptures,  especially  in  those  of 
the  Old  Testament,  where  it  most  frequently  occurs,  does 
not,  as  in  English,  mean  the  spirit  which  lives  after  death, 
but  merely  the  animating  principle  or  life,  and  this  be- 
cause its  primary  meaning  is  breath  :  and  of  breathing,  the 
lungs  are  the  organ.  When  the  soul  then  is  mentioned  in 
conjunction  with  the  heart,  it  strictly  refers  to  the  breath 
respired  by  the  lungs  ;  and  the  combined  phrase  refers, 
in  the  lanoviaa;e  of  analoo^v,  to  those  faculties  of  the 
mind,  of  which  the  heart  and  lungs  are  images  in  the 
body. 

But  not  only  are  there  two  general  organs  in  the  body, 
answering  to  the  two  leading  faculties  of  the  mind,  but  the 
whole  body  itself  is  made  up  of  two  principal  constituent 
materials  ;  which  are,  the  flesh  and  blood.  These  again, 
then,  bear  a  relation,  though  still  more  remote,  to  the  two 
great  constituents  of  the  Divine  Nature:  it  is  primarily  be- 
cause there  are  two  of  these,  that  there  are  two  of  those  : 
hence  also  so  much  mention  is  made  of  flesh  and  blood  in 
the  Divine  Word,  which,  we  shall  eventually  find,  con- 
stantly speaks  in  terms  borrowed  from  t!ie  Relation  which 
we  are  endeavouring  to  establish. 

As,  again,  the  human  body  is  composed  of  solids  and 
fluids,  or  of  flesh  and  blood,  it  is  necessary,  for  its  sup- 
port, that  it  be  nourished  by  aliment  of  both  kinds,  or  by 
meat  and  drink.  All  meats  and  drinks,  then,  have  the 
-same  general  relation  to  the  great  attributes  of  Deity,  as  is 
borne  by  the  constituent  t-ubstances  of  the  human  body,  by 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  103 

its  two  vital  organs,  and,  in  tlie  mind,  by  the  will  and  un- 
derstanding :  but  their  sj»eciiic  reference  is  to  the  love  and 
wisdom,  or  goodness  and  truth,  which  are  imparted  by 
the  Divine  Autlior  of  all  good  to  support  man's  spiritual 
life  :  for  the  human  mind  is  nourished  by  the  reception  of 
goodness  and  trutli  from  their  origin  in  Him,  as  the  body 
is  bv  its  appropriate  food  and  drink  :  thus  natural  food 
and  drink  are  proper  images  of  the  spiritual. 

The  same  analogy  is  continued,  even  till  we  come  to  the 
most  shapeless  masses  of  inanimate  matter.  Thus  the  ter- 
raqueous globe  in  general  consists,  in  like  manner,  of  two 
general  parts,  which  are  earth  and  water.  Indeed,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find  any  thing,  through  the  whole 
circuit  of  creation,  both  in  general  and  in  particular, 
which  is  not  composed  of  two  principal  constituent  parts. 
In  man,  for  instance,  and  all  animals,  there  are  two  sexes: 
and  not  only  are  they  thus,  in  general,  arranged  in  pairs, 
but  all  the  parts  of  each  sheAV  an  extraordinary  tendency 
to  run  in  pairs  also.  Thus,  in  the  face,  there  are  two  eyes, 
two  ears,  two  nostrils;  in  the  body,  two  breasts,  two  arms 
and  hands,  two  legs  and  feet.  So  likewise  tlie  internal  or- 
gans exhibit  the  same  two-fold  bias.  There  are  two  great 
divisions  of  the  brain,  so  distinct,  that  anatomists  describe 
them  by  separate  names  :  the  heart  is  divided  into  its  ven- 
tricles and  auricles,  of  each  of  which,  again,  there  are  two: 
the  sanguineous  system  dependent  upon  the  heart  has  also 
its  two  marked  distinctions  of  arteries  and  veins.  So  there 
are  two  lobes  of  the  lungs,  two  kidneys,  &c.  And  the 
parts  which  appear  as  single,  nevertheless,  in  general,  con- 
sist of  two  portions,  united  by  a  common  covering  :  and 
many,  whose  form  does  not  admit  of  this,  are  composed  of 
two  halves,  answering  to  each  other  :  thus,  though  the 
mouth,  altogether,  is  a  single  organ,  the  teeth  on  each  side 
form  a  series  of  paiis;  and  even  its  outward  opening  is  not 
only  formed  by  two  lips,  but  if  these  be  considered  as  di- 
vided in  the  middle  by  a  perpendicular  line,  they  each 


104  PLENARY    INSPIRATION,    OF 

present  two  parts  symmetrically  answering  to  eacli  other  : 
and  the  same  may  be  observed  in  the  tongue. 

Now  since  this  tendency  to  a  twofold  arrangement  acts 
so  powerfully  throughout  creation,  that  we  cannot  turn 
our  eyes  in  any  direction  without  seeing  it  every  where 
presented  before  them;  does  not  true  philosophy  lead  us  to 
refer  the  phfenomenon  to  some  universally  acting  cause  ? 
and  what  cause  can  be  adequate  to  the  production  of  such 
continually  imiform  effects,  but  a  marked  duality  of  essen- 
tial properties  in  the  First  Cause  of  all  ?  Admit,  what 
cannot  be  easily  denied,  that  Goodness  and  Truth,  in  their 
very  essence,  are  Deity  Itself,  and  we  cannot  be  surprised 
to  find  circumstances  pointing  to  that  fact  through  all  the 
fields  of  creation; — to  behold  them  exhibited  more  direct- 
ly in  the  moral  and  spiritual  productions  of  the  divine 
plastic  hand,  as  in  the  will  and  understanding  of  man,  and 
imaged  not  less  truly,  though  more  remotely,  in  the  ob- 
jects of  material  and  even  inanimate  nature.  And  if  these 
leading  traits  in  all  existing  things  bear  a  secret  Relation 
to  the  leading  characteristics  of  the  Divine  Nature,  it 
would  be  unphilosophical  to  doubt  that  a  similar  Relation 
prevails  in  all  other  respects  whatever.  Most  true  it  must 
be,  that  the  Creator  has  stamped  a  certain  image  of  Him- 
self on  his  creation,  both  on  the  whole,  and  on  every,  even 
the  minutest  part.  Although  this  shines  most  plainly  in 
man,  it  must  be  visible,  to  the  attentive  observer,  in  all 
the  inferior  orders  of  existence.  All  must  be  types,  of 
which  the  archetype  is  in  God. 

(2.)  But  that  all  the  inferior  parts  of  creation  present  a 
more  remote  but  not  less  real  image  of  the  Divine  Creator, 
will  still  more  indisputably  appear  from  another  consider- 
ation. That  man  himself  presents  such  an  image,  is  un- 
questionably agreeable  to  the  purest  dictates  of  reason  ; 
and  to  the  believers  in  Revelation,  it  is  placed  beyond 
doubt  by  the  authoritative  declarations  of  Scripture.  But 
if  man  is   an  image  of  God,  most   evident  also,  it  is,  that 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  105 

the  lower  orders  of  creation,  in  their  respective  degrees, 
bear  the  same  image  ;  for  the  most  cursory  inspection  will 
shew,  that  they  all  present,  in  a  certain  manner,  an  image 
of  man.  How  strong  is  the  tendency  to  the  human  form, 
for  example,  which  is  observable  among  all  the  subjects  of 
the  animal  kingdom  ;  and  even  though  more  remotely, 
among  all  the  subjects  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  likewise! 
The  animals  which  differ  most  in  their  external  shape  from 
man,  have,  nevertlieless,  most  of  the  organs  which  are 
found  in  the  human  body, — especially  those  which  are 
most  essential  to  life  ;  though  all  display  them  under  end- 
less varieties.  All  have  heads,  bodies,  feet:  in  their  heads 
are  eyes,  noses,  mouths,  ears  ;  and  in  their  bodies,  hearts, 
lungs,  and  the  other  viscera.  As  the  animal  descends  in 
the  scale  of  existence,  the  resemblance  becomes  less  per- 
fect ;  yet  most  of  the  species  retain  the  principal  organs  ; 
and  where  these  cease,  their  place  is  supplied  by  something 
analogous,  which  performs  their  office  in  a  manner  suit- 
ed to  the  animal's  nature. 

So,  again,  the  similitude  between  the  animal  and  vege- 
table kingdoms, — the  Mutual  Relation  which  they  bear  to 
each  other, — is  in  many  respects  very  conspicuous.  They 
melt  into  each  other  by  such  imperceptible  degrees,  that 
there  ai'e  animals  whose  sensitive  powers  are  not  much 
greater  than  those  of  vegetables,  and  there  are  vegetables 
which  exhibit  such  an  approximation  to  sensation,  as  ren- 
ders the  propriety  of  assigning  them  to  the  vegetable  king- 
dom almost  a  matter  of  doubt.  But  even  those  which 
most  decidedly  belong  to  this  province  of  nature,  exhibit 
in  a  remarkable  manner  their  affinity  to  the  animal  king- 
dom :  they  display,  under  another  form,  some  of  the  most 
important  attributes  of  the  latter.  Not  only  are  thev,  in 
common  with  animals,  animated  by  a  decided  principle  of 
life, — are  propagated  from  parents,  giow  from  an  obscure 
germ  to  maturity,  flourish  in  vigour,  provide  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  their  species,  decline,  and  die, — sometimes 
14 


106  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

from  disease,  and  sometimes  by  the  mere  agency  of  time  ; 
but  their  life  is  maintained  in  an  exactly  analogous  manner. 
Trees,  and  indeed  all  vegetables,  circulate  sap,  which  is 
their  blood,  through  vessels  answering  to  arteries  and 
veins,  from  their  root,  which  answers  to  the  heart  :  and 
they  inhale  and  respire  air  through  pores  in  their  leaves, 
which  perform  for  them  the  office  of  lungs.  And  the  de- 
velopement  of  their  sexual  sys  em,  by  Linnaeus,  has  brought 
to  liofht  other  wonderful  analogies.  Tlie  discoveries  of 
modern  science  have  even  gone  farther,  not  only  establish- 
ing general  analogies  between  all  animals  and  all  vegeta- 
bles taken  respectively  together,  but  between  particular 
classes  of  animals  and  particular  classes  of  vegetables  ;* 
and  thus  leading  to  the  conclusion,  that  every  individual 
,sj)ecies  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  has  a  species  answering 
to  it  in  the  animal  kingdom  ;  or,  that  certain  vegetables 
are,  in  their  kingdom,  what  certain  animals  are  in  theirs, 
discharging  like  functions  in  regard  to  the  whole. 

Similar  observations  may  be  made  in  regard  to  the  mi- 
neral kingdom.  Here,  also,  extraordinary  analogies  may 
be  traced,  and  a  tendency  to  offer  an  image  of  the  higher 
orders  of  creation  may  be  observed  ;  although,  owing  to 
the  inert  nature  of  the  substances  of  this  kingdom,  it  is  not 
exhibited  in  so  palpable  a  manner.  It  is  well  known, 
liowever,  how  many  mineral  productions  there  are,  which, 
when  left  to  assume,  without  constraint,  the  forms  most 
agreeab  e  to  their  nature,  seem  to  extricate  th  mselves  from 
their  originally  unplastic  state,  and  aspire  towards  the 
kingdom  immediately  above  them,  emulating  so  exactly 
tlie  vegetable  shape,  that,  judging  by  this  test  alone,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  determine  to  which  province  of  na- 
ture they  belong.     But  look  again  at  the  image  of  the  cir- 

*  See  "  Remarks  on  the  Identity  of  certain  general  Laws,  which  have  been 
lately  observed  to  regulate  the  natural  distribution  of  Insects  and  Fungi ;"  by 
W.  S.  Mac  Leay,  Esq.  M.  A.  F.  L.  S.  Linncean  Transactions,  Vol.  xiv.  Pt.  1, 
p.  46. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  107 

culation  of  the  blood,  and  thus  of  the  animal  creation 
which  is  exhibited  in  the  globe  we  inhabit.  No  one  can 
inspect  the  map  of  an  extensive  country,  and  the  plates 
representing  the  venous  system  of  the  human  body  in 
works  on  Anatomy,  without  being  struck  by  the  similarity 
of  form  between  the  rivers  in  the  one,  and  the  veins  in  the 
other  :  both  rise  from  innumerable  minute  origins,  wander 
through  an  infinity  of  small  channels,  which  diminish  in 
number  and  increase  in  size  as  they  successively  coalesce, 
till  they  unite  in  a  common  trunk  which  carries  them  to 
their  final  goal.  Nor  is  this  an  analogy  that  is  only  such 
to  the  eye.  We  have  before  observed,  that  the  water  is  to 
the  terraqueous  globe  what  the  blood  is  to  the  body  :  so. 
they  both  are  circulated  throughout  the  whole  in  an  ana- 
logous manner,  though  by  very  different  means.  While 
the  heart,  by  its  extraordinary  vicissitudes  of  contraction 
and  expansion,  performs  this  work  for  the  animated  frame 
of  man  and  animals,  distributing  the  blood  by  the  arteries 
to  nourish  every  part  of  the  body,  and  recalling  it  by  the 
veins  ;  the  mysterious  economy  of  alternate  evaporation 
and  condensation  accomplishes  the  same  task  for  the  insen- 
sible frame  of  the  world  :  By  this  are  the  waters  raised 
from  their  great  storehouse,  the  ocean,  transported  by  the 
clouds,  which  execute  the  office  of  the  arterial  system,  to 
the  parts  where  their  fertilizing  agency  is  required,  dis- 
charged in  showers  to  irrigate  the  soil,  collected  again  by 
the  rivers  as  an  immense  system  of  veins,  and  so  carried 
back  to  their  common  reservoir,  to  be  thrown  again  and 
again,  as  long  as  time  shall  endure,  through  the  same  cir- 
culation. Now,  to  borrow  the  phraseology  of  an  eminent 
scientific  writer,*  there  is  no  proper  affinity  between  man 
and  animals,  and  still  less  between  man  and  vegetal>les, 
minerals,  and  inert  globes  of  earth  and  water  :  but  who 
can  observe  these  and  a  thousand  other  wonderful  coinci- 

*  Mr.  Mac  Leay,  in  the  Paper  above  referred  to,  and  in  his  work  entitled, 
HorcE  Entomologies. 


108  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

dences,  without  being  satisfied  that  a  regular  and  certain 
analogy  reigns  between  them  all  ?  Who  cannot  see,  that 
all  the  inferior  objects  that  exist  present  an  image  of  man, 
or  of  something  that  is  in  man,  and  thus  remotely  and  de- 
rivatively, an  image  of  God,  or  of  something  in  him  ? 

(3.)  We  have  now,  however,  been  considering  the  ana- 
logy between  the  lower  objects  of  the  creation  and  man, 
chiefly  in  regard  to  their  physical  organization  or  consti- 
tution, and  have  only  pointed  to  their  relation  to  spiritual 
and  divine  things  through  the  analogy  observable  between 
the  general  constitution  of  the  body  of  man,  and  that  of 
his  mind.  But,  doubtless,  there  is  a  more  immediate  ana- 
loo-y  also  :  Not  only  may  a  relation  be  traced  between  the 
physical  powers  and  forms  of  man,  animals,  vegetables, 
and  minerals,  which  is  such  that  the  lower  seems  constant- 
ly to  emulate  the  higher  ;  but  between  the  mind  of  man, 
what  may  be  called  the  moral  qualities  of  animals,  and  the 
essential  properties  of  vegetables  and  minerals,  a  not  less 
decided  analogy  may  be  observed.  Thus,  all  animals  uni- 
versally are  guided  by  certain  general  appetites  and  in- 
stincts, not  dissimilar  to  those  which  belong  to  the  inferior 
part  of  the  human  constitution.  And  not  only  are  the 
propensities  which  lead  them  to  provide  for  their  own 
support  by  food,  and  for  the  continuation  of  their  species, 
similar,  in  a  general  way,  to  the  same  propensities  in  man, 
but,  in  regard  to  the  latter,  some  of  them  even  recede  from 
the  grossness  of  brutes,  and  shame  the  brutal  part  of  the 
human  race,  by  forming  conjugal  engagements  approach- 
ing to  the  tenderness  and  purity  of  married  love  :  whilst, 
with  respect  to  attachment  for  their  offspring,  and  the  care 
w^ith  which  they  provide  for  its  welfare,  even  the  most  fe- 
rocious species  emulate  the  maternal  affection  of  the  most 
exemplary  human  parent.  In  other  respects,  also,  there 
are  animals  which  exhibit  feelings  so  nearly  approximating 
to  moral  qualities,  and  instincts  which  so  accurately  imi- 
tate reason,  that  some  who  would  be  deemed  philosophers 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  109 

have  denied  there  to  be  any  essential  difference,  and  have 
asserted  that  nothing  but  speech  is  wanting  to  identify 
their  nature  with  that  of  man. 

In  these  particulars,  tlien,  between  man  and  animals  ge- 
nerally, there  is  evidently  a  common  analogy  ;  and  it  is 
equally  certain,  that  there  is  a  similar  analogy  between 
every  species  of  animal,  in  particular,  and  something  that 
is  in  man.  For  while  all  animals  have  certain  common 
appetites  and  instincts  in  which  they  agree,  they  all  have 
particular  ones  in  which  they  differ.  How  great  is  the 
contrariety  of  character  between  the  wolf  and  the  lamb, 
the  lion  and  the  ox  !  Yet  how  easy  is  it  to  see,  that  the 
character  of  each  is  thus  distinct,  because  it  is  formed  by 
some  specific  affection,  taken,  as  it  were,  out  of  the  human 
mind,  and  made  the  single  governing  propensity  of  the 
animal,  without  being  modified  by  the  innumerable  varie- 
ty of  other  affections,  with  which,  in  that  wonderful  ag- 
gregate of  affections,  the  human  mind,  it  is  combined  ! 
That  in  the  human  mind  are  accumulated  all  the  various 
affections,  which,  when  separated,  give  a  distinct  nature  to 
so  many  species  of  animals,  is  evident  from  the  cases  some- 
times observed,  in  which  one  such  affection  is,  in  man,  so 
much  more  powerfully  developed  than  others,  as  strongly 
to  mark  his  character.  Thus,  where  pure  benevolence 
and  harmlessness  pre-eminently  reign,  how  readily  do  we 
recognize  the  moral  features  of  the  lamb  !  where  general 
meekness  and  unsuspecting  honesty,  not  so  devoid  of  iras- 
cibility, prevail,  we  discover  the  temper  of  the  ox;  where 
a  tendency  to  rapine  and  cruelty  continually  bursts  forth, 
we  note  the  characteristic  of  the  wolf  ;  and  in  the  nature 
still  prone  to  deeds  of  destruction,  but  exalted  by  courage 
and  pre-eminent  power,  we  trace  a  resemblance  of  the 
lion.  Similitudes  of  this  kind  are  familiar  to  every  ob- 
server of  nature.  Were  not  their  truth  generally  perceiv- 
ed, poetry  would  want  many  of  its  most  striking  beauties: 
and  the  use  in  poetry  of  images  borrowed  hence,  could  ex- 


110  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OP 

cite  no  sympathies  in  the  mind  of  the  reader,  were  they 
not  founded  in  the  fixed  laws  of  nature.  We  see  clearly, 
that,  on  some  animals,  in  regard  to  what  may  be  called 
their  moral  qualities,  is  stamped  a  decided  image  of  cer- 
tain moral  qualities  existing  in  the  human  mind;  and  were 
we  fully  acquainted  with  the  leading  moral  quality  of  eve- 
ry species  of  animal,  we  should  see  that  every  species  of 
animal  derives  its  proximate  origin  from  that  to  which  it 
thus  answers  in  the  human  mind,  and  bears  of  it  the  mark. 
Hence,  also,  animals  are  images,  though  more  remotely, 
of  those  principles  in  the  Divine  Mind  from  whicli  every 
thino-  that  exists  in  the  human  mind  is  a  faint  transcript  ; 
only  we  must  here  recollect,  what  has  before  been  remark- 
ed, that  there  is  a  relation  of  opposites,  as  well  as  of  direct 
resemblances.  Certainly,  nothing  evil  and  mischievous 
can  bear  a  relation  or  analogy  to  any  thing  in  the  Divine 
Mind,  any  otherwise,  than  as  it  is  the  perversion  of  some- 
thing intrinsically  good.  There  are  many  such  perver- 
sions in  the  corrupt  mind  of  man  ;  and  all  things  noxious 
in  nature  are  directly  images  of  these,  and  only  inversely  of 
the  opposite  perfections  in  the  Divine  Nature. 

(4.)  But  perhaps  it  may  be  asked,  If  the  whole  Universe, 
as  advanced  above,  is  an  outbirth  from  the  Deity  ;  and  if 
every  thing  so  produced  has  in  Him  its  divine  prototype 
and  ground  of  being  ;  how  came  any  thing  to  be  created 
whose  relation  to  Him  is  merely  that  of  an  opposite  ?  It 
may  be  answered.  Because,  though  every  inferior  creature 
has  its  divine  prototype  in  God,  it  has,  as  is  also  stated 
above,  its  immediate  antitype  in  man  :  if  then  man,  by  the 
abuse  of  tlie  freedom  of  will  with  which  he  was  endowed, 
perverted  the  divine  gifts  which  he  had  received,  and  in- 
troduced evil  into  himself,  images  of  such  perversion  and 
evil,  by  the  continued  action  of  the  Divine  Creative  Power, 
woidd  speedily  appear  in  the  lower  objects  of  creation. 
There  can  be  no  doubt,  as  declared  in  the  beginning  of 
Genesis,  that  all  things,  as  thev  first  came  from  the  Divine 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &;c.  Ill 

Hand,  were  good  :  and  perhaps  it  may  be  questioned, 
whether  any  tiling  that  now  exists  is  so  purely  evil,  as  not 
to  be  capable  of  being  divested  of  its  malignant  properties. 
The  letter  of  Scripture  seems  to  affirm  that  it  may,  when 
it  says,  in  reference  to  a  future  glorious  state  of  the  Church 
and  its  members,  "  The  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb, 
and  the  leopard  shall  lie  down  with  the  kid  ;  and  the  calf, 
and  the  young  lion,  and  the  fatling  together  ;  and  a  little 
child  shall  lead  them.  And  the  cow  and  the  bear  shall 
feed,  their  young  ones  shall  lie  down  together  ;  and  the 
lion  shall  eat  straw,  like  the  ox.  And  the  sucking  child 
shall  play  on  the  hole  of  the  asp,  and  the  weaned  child 
shall  put  his  hand  on  the  cockatrice's  den."*  If  we  suppose 
that  by  the  harmless  animals  and  the  infants  here  mention- 
ed, are  typified  the  good,  benevolent,  and  innocent  affec- 
tions of  the  human  mind,  and  by  the  noxious  animals,  such 
appetites  and  propensities,  as,  when  not  controlled  by  the 
former,  are  of  a  destructive  nature  ;  and,  if,  by  their  all 
dwelling  together,  we  conceive  to  be  meant,  the  depriving 
of  the  latter  of  their  pernicious  tendencies  by  the  complete 
preponderance  of  the  former  ;  we  have  a  spiritual  sense 
which  certainly  teaches  a  most  important  moral  lesson, 
conveyed  in  language  most  striking  and  impressive.  To 
dwell,  however,  upon  this,  now,  would  be  to  anticipate 
the  argument  to  which  we  are  to  proceed  by  and  by  :  I 
here  mention  the  circumstance  to  shew,  that  if  there  is  an 
evident  analogy  between  the  noxious  animals,  in  the  state 
in  which  they  at  present  exist,  and  the  evil  propensities 
and  passions  of  human  nature,  the  Scripture,  when  point- 
ing to  a  state  in  which  the  lower  appetites  and  propensi- 
ties of  man  shall  be  divested  of  their  injurious  nature  by 
the  preponderance  of  the  higher  sentiments,  preserves  the 
analogy  between  them  and  the  same  animals,  by  describ- 
ing the  latter  as  laying  aside  their  destructive  tendencies. 

*  la.  xi.  6.  7,  8. 


112  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

If  tlie  present  species  of  animals  all  existed  from  the  be- 
ginning, it  is  certain  that  some  of  them  must  have  been 
greatly  altered  when  evil  established  itself  in  the  human 
mind.  As  all  evil  is  nothing  but  the  perversion  of  the 
lower  propensities  of  our  nature,  v/hich  by  creation  were 
good,  the  animals  which  were  created  as  representative 
forms  of  those  affections  coidd  not  at  first  have  been  nox- 
ious ;  but  they  might  begin  to  be  so  when  those  affections 
in  man  suffered  perversion.  Hence  it  may  be  true,  as  the 
poet  sings,  that 

"  Thus  began 
Outrage  from  lifeless  things:  but  Discord  first, 
Daughter  of  Sin,  among  tli'  irrational, 
Death  introduced,  thro'  fierce  antipathy. 
Beast  now  with  beast  'gan  war,  and  fowl  with  fowl, 
And  fish  with  fish  :  to  graze  the  herb,  all,  leaving, 
Devour'd  each  other  ;  nor  stood  much  in  awe 
Of  man,  but  fled  him,  or,  with  count'nance  grim, 
Glared  on  him  passing." 

And  if  this  was  the  origin  of  the  noxious  nature  in  beasts, 
it  cannot  be  doubled,  were  mankind  to  return  to  a  state 
such  as  is  spiritually  described  in  the  passage  just  quoted 
from  the  prophet,  in  which  all  the  lower  appetites  and 
propensities  were  strictly  subordinated  to  the  higher,  that 
the  words  of  the  prophet  would  have  a  literal-fulfilment 
likewise,  and  all  animals  would  again  become  innocuous. 
But  in  any  case  it  is  certain,  that  could  evil  be  removed 
from  the  moral  world,  it  would  cease  in  the  natural  world 
also,  and  destructive  creatures  would  no  longer  exist.  If 
it  should  be  deemed  unphilosophical  to  suppose  that  those 
now  in  being  would  change  their  nature,  to  which  their 
physical  organization  is  so  accurately  adapted,  it  is  perfect- 
ly agreeable  to  the  discoveries  of  science  to  conclude,  that 
they  would  cease  to  exist  altogether  ;  since  it  is  well  ascer- 
tained, from  the  organic  remains  found  in  the  bowels  of  the 
earth,  that  many  species,  and  even  whole  genera,  of  animals 
and  plants  once  common,  are  now  no  longer  known  ;  and. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  113 

conversely,  that  many  of  those  now  common  were  stran- 
gers to  the  primeval  ages  :  thus,  having  commenced  their 
existence  since  tiie  beginning  of  the  world,  they  may  re- 
linquish it  again  before  the  end.  It  may  then  be  safely 
concluded,  since  nothing  noxious  can  have  its  direct  pro- 
totype in  God,  that  all  such  tilings  either  first  acquired 
their  noxious  nature,  or  first  began  to  exist,  when  evil  es- 
tabliilied  itself  in  tlie  human  mind  ;  that  they  are  proper- 
ly the  images  of  the  depraved  propensities  which  there 
have  their  seat  ;  and  that  if  moral  evil  could  be  bani-hed 
from  the  world,  these  expressive  images  of  it  would  either 
lose  those  qualities  which  make  them  such,  or  would  dh- 
appear  altogether. 

(5.)  But  to  return  from  this  digression  ;  which  however 
was  necessary  to  meet  a  seeming  difficulty.  It  surely  must 
be  readily  admitted,  when  fairly  contemplated,  that  the 
analogy  between  what  may  be  called,  in  a  qualified  sense, 
the  moral  qualities  of  animals  and  the  affections  of  the 
human  mind,  is  very  obvious  and  striking  ;  and  it  cannot 
be  difficult  to  discover  a  similar  analogy  between  both  of 
these  and  the  properties  of  the  objects  belonging  to  the 
vegetable  and  mineral  kingdoms.  How  closely  arc  the 
common  appetites  and  instincts,  which  in  animals  are  sub- 
servient to  the  preservation  of  the  individuals  and  of  ths 
species,  emulated  in  the  vegetable  creation  !  In  thee,  as 
in  those,  the  life  of  the  individuals  is  sustained  by  supplies 
of  nourishment  from  without.  They  are  provided  with  sets 
of  vessels,  which  draw  from  the  soil  in  w^hicli  they  grow, 
and  from  the  air  which  surrounds  them,  those  juices  and 
gases  which  are  congenial  with  their  nature  ;  and  these 
they  select,  while  they  reject  such  as  would  be  pernicious, 
with  a  discrimination  which,  though  void  of  all  conscious- 
ness, answers  to,  and  exactly  pictures,  under  another  form, 
the  instinct  in  regard  to  these  objects  so  wonderful  in  ani- 
mals. So,  in  the  mode  by  wliich  the  continuation  of  the 
species  is  provided  for,  there  is  so  much  that  seems  to  rival 
15 


114  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OP 

the  attachments  of  animals,  that  Poetry,  with  one  of  her 
usual  exaggerations,  has  attempted  to  abolish  the  difference, 
by  selecting  as  a  theme,  "  the  Loves  of  the  Plants,"*  and 
Painting  has  carried  on  the  thought,  by  representing  the 
fabled  Deity  of  the  tender  passion  subduing  the  vegetable 
kingdom  also  to  his  sway,  and  levelling  his  arrows  at  the 
susceptible  breasts  of  flowers. f  And  how  exact  an  analogy 
of  the  same  universal  impulses  is  displayed  through  the 
mineral  kingdom  also  !  By  how  marvellous  a  power,  re- 
sembling the  animal  appetite  for  food,  do  many  minerals 
draw  from  surrounding  substances  the  materials  of  their 
accumulation  !  How  completely  magical  ;  how  similar  to 
the  exercise  of  affection  and  choice,  is  the  action  of  chemi- 
cal affinities  !  How  striking  an  image  of  conscious  at- 
tachment is  presented,  when,  under  the  influence  of  the 
mysterious  principle  just  mentioned,  we  behold  inanimate 
matters, — substances  not  possessed  even  of  vegetative  life, 
rush  into  union,  as  if  actuated  by  the  most  ardent  mutual 
affection  ! 

But  not  to  dwell  on  these  common  resemblances,  which 
assuredly  tend  very  conclusively  to  establish  the  continual 
Mutual  Relation,  or  Relation  of  Analogy,  between  all  the 
various  orders  of  creation  ;  who  cannot  see  a  similar  ana- 
logy between  specific  moral  qualities,  the  animals  in  which 
such  qualities  are  imaged,  and  the  properties  of  specific 
vegetables  and  minerals  ?  Between  all  the  productions  of 
the  vegetable  kingdom  that  afford  pleasant  and  wholesome 
nutriment,  for  example, — the  mild  races  of  animals  which 
are  of  similar  use  to  man,  and  the  good  moral  qualities  of 
which  these  are  the  pictures,  how  plainly  does  this  rela- 
tion exist !  and,  on  the  other  hand,  how  close  is  the  analogy 
between  noxious  plants,  noxious  animals,  and  the  malig- 
nant moral  qualities  which  these  so  aptly  typify  I  Tb  de- 
scend tp  particulars  would  carry  us  into  too  wide  a  field  ; 

•  By  Br.  Darwin. 

i  Sep  a  print  in  Dr.  Thornton  s  Illu!»trations  of  Linnaeus's  Sexual  SystPin. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  115 

otherwise,  numerous  confirmatory  instances  might  easily 
be  pointed  out.  The  substances  of  the  mineral  kingdom 
not  affording  food  to  man,  their  particular  relation  to  the 
objects  of  the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms,  and  finally 
to  moral  qualities,  cannot  so  evidently  be  shewn  ;  but  that 
every  specific  substance  of  unorganized  nature  has  also 
properties  peculiar  to  it,  which,  though  quite  different  from 
those  of  vegetables  and  animals,  and  especially  from  the 
feelings  and  sentimeuts  of  tiie  human  mind,  are  yet  exactly 
analogous  to  them  ;  is  a  truth  which  a  little  research  would 
easily  establish.  But  Nature  herself,  by  bringing  together 
the  analogous  objects  of  her  different  kingdoms,  often 
calls  upon  us  to  note  their  mutual  relation, — to  observe 
how,  in  their  respective  spheres,  they  answer  to  each  other. 
Read,  for  instance,  the  description  of  the  Great  Western 
Desart  of  North  America,  that  occupies  hundreds  of  miles, 
both  in  length  and  breadth,  of  the  territory  that  lies  be- 
tween the  great  rivers  Mississippi  and  Missouri  and  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  and  which  has  lately  been  explored  by 
a  mission  despatched  for  the  purpose  by  the  government  of 
the  United  States.*  Of  this  frightful  district  it  is  related, 
(I  quote  from  the  Quarterly  Review,)  that  "  In  patches 
where  vegetation  shews  itself,  it  is  mostly  confined  to  tufts 
of  withered  grass,  prickly  pears,  and  those  succulent  and 
saline  plants  which  can  derive  subsistence  out  of  the  most 
arid,  sandy,  and  sterile  soils.  Two  species  of  cactus  are 
described  as  most  formidable  plants,  the  cactus  ferox  and 
the  cactus  cylindricus.  The  former  is  stated  to  reign  sole 
monarch  over  myriads  of  acres  of  these  desolate  plains,  in 
patches,  which  neither  a  horse  nor  any  other  animal  will 
venture  to  pass. — The  latter  grows  singly,  and  forms  a 
cluster  by  itself,  increasing  to  such  a  size,  that,  seen  from 
a  distance,  it  is  frequently  mistaken  for  a  bison.  The 
whole  plant  is  so  thickly  beset  with  spines  that   it  forbids 

•  Detailed  in  the  '•  Account  of  an  Expedition  from  Pittsburgh  to  the  Rocky 
Moiiatains,  &c."  by  E.  James. 


118  PLENARY    INSPIRATION,    OF 

all  approach  to  it,  either  by  man  or  beast."*  Respecting 
the  animited  tenants  of  the  more  southern  part  of  this 
horrid  desart,  it  is  stated,  that  "  Clouds  of  locusts  filled  tlie 
air,  uttering  shrill  and  deafening  cries  ;  while  the  Missis- 
sippi-h  nvk,  wheeling  through  their  ranks,  seemed  to  enjoy 
his  fivourite  prey  ;  rattlesnakes  of  various  kinds,  and  sco- 
lopendras  of  enormous  size,  were  crawling  on  the  naked 
surface  ;  and  immense  bl-ick,  hairy  spidert^,  like  the  bird 
catching  animal  of  vSouth  America  {mygale  avicularia), 
watching  for  prey  at  the  mouth  of  tlieir  subterranean  habi- 
tations."f  Wlio  can  lead  this  frightful  account,  without 
beins  struck  by  the  homogeneity  of  character,  so  appar- 
ent betwesn  the  unkindly  soil  and  its  pernicious  products, 
botli  veijetuble  and  animal  ?  Who  is  not  led  unconsciously 
to  feel,  that  there  is  a  decided  analogy  between  the  charac- 
teristic nature  of  each  and  those  of  its  accompaniments  ? 
Wh.)  does  not  spontaneously  infer,  that  the  barren  ground, 
tiio  horrid  thorns,  and  the  venomous  reptiles,  mutually 
answer  to  each  other  .''  And  who  does  not  see  in  them  all, 
striking  emblems,  and  even  exact  images,  of  the  malignant 
])as;ions,  such  as  prompt  to  shoot  the  poisoned  darts  of 
calumny,  and  to  stab  Avith  unjuift  reproaches  ? — of  a  dispo- 
sition, such  as  would  pervert  even  the  sunshine  and  rain  of 
heaven  into  food  for  those  passions  ? 

But  we  must  not  dwell  any  longer  on  these  illustrations. 
As  we  have  before  plainly  seen,  that  on  all  things  belonging 
to  the  moral,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  worlds  the  Divine 
Creator  has  first  stamped  a  certain  image  of  Himself;  so 
enough  may  now  have  been  stated  to  evince,  that  all  ob- 
jects of  outward,  and  even  material  nature,  bear  an  image 
of  the  moral,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  world  of  the  hu- 
man mind,  representing  its  bad  as  well  as  its  excellent  en- 
dowments :  and  thus  we  plainly  see  that  on  these  also  the 

•  Quarterly  Review,  No  Ivii.  p.  16.  t  lb.  p.  23, 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  117 

divine  image  is  impressed,  though  sometimes  in  an  invert- 
ed and  distorted  rather  than  in  a  direct  and  beautiful  order. 
Through  all  the  links  of  creation,  lower  things  continually 
answer  to  higher  ;  and  the  contemplation  of  them  in  this 
light  is  indeed  calculated  to  "  lead  from  nature  up  to  na- 
ture's God."  WJiilst,  through  all  their  varieties,  minerals 
are  seen  to  answer  to  vegetables,  vegetables  to  animals, 
and  animals  to  man  ;  and  whilst  man  is  recognized  as  hav- 
ing been  created  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  ;  we  see 
how  the  attributes  of  the  highest  natures,  may  be  viewed, 
as  in  a  mirror,  in  the  lowest  ;  we  discern  how  cloj^e  is  the 
tie  which  binds  together  the  whole  universe  of  being  :  w^e 
behold  how  things  invisible  may  be  read  in  the  things 
which  are  seen.  The  Relation  of  Analogy  thus  every 
wliere  existing,  makes  the  volume  of  nature  an  instructive 
book  indeed.  In  a  stricter  sense  than  the  poet  ever  dream- 
ed of,  he  who  thus  views  the  fields  of  creation, 

"  Finds  tongues  in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks, 
Sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  every  tiling." 

4.  Concluding  that  it  must  now  be  pretty  evident,  that 
all  things  in  Nature,  being,  as  we  have  seen,  outward  pro- 
ductions from  inward  essences,  are  natural,  sensible,  and 
material  types,  of  moral,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  antitypes, 
and,  finally,  of  their  prototypes  in  God  ;  we  draw  a  step 
nearer  to  the  important  object  before  us,  which  is,  to  shew 
that  a  Law  or  Rule  of  universal  application  is  lieroby  af- 
forded for  the  interpretation  of  the  Word  of  God.  We 
will  here  only  remark  further,  that  if  such  an  analogy  as 
we  have  pointed  out  exists  at  all,  it  must  be  regular  and 
constant  ;  that  tlie  mutual  relation  between  natural  types 
and  spiritual  antitypes  must  be  immutable  ;  if  therefore 
the  Scriptures  are  written  in  agreement  with  this  analogy 
or  mutual  relation,  the  interpretations  drawn  from  an  ade- 
quate knowledge  of  it  cannot  be  irregular  or  uncertain. 
The  doctrine  of  spiritual  interpretation  will  thus  be  freed 


113  PLENARr    INSPIRATION    OF 

from  the  only  objection  by  which  it  could  be  reasonably 
impugned. 

III.  Seeing  then  that  a  Relation  of  Analogy  so  decided- 
ly prevails  among  the  various  orders  of  existence  in  the 
universe,  insomuch  that  inferior  things  are,  universally? 
images  of  superior,  and  that  all  material  things  are  types 
of  immaterial  ;  it  will  follow,  that  were  this  Relation  well 
understood,  a  style  of  writing  might  be  constructed,  in 
which,  while  none  but  natural  images  were  used,  purely 
intellectual  ideas  should  be  fully  expressed  :  indeed  it  will 
be  evident,  that  even  a  narrative  in  appearance  the  most 
simple,  treating,  in  its  literal  expression,  merely  of  the  ob- 
jects of  nature,  if  framed  by  that  Infinite  Knowledge  to 
which  the  proper  qualities  of  natural  objects  all  lie  dis- 
played, and  which  sees  infallibly  of  what  spiritual  anti- 
types these  are  the  types,  might  include  lessons  of  wisdom 
far  beyond  all  that  philosophy  ever  reached. 

1.  Now  that  such  a  Relation  exists,  and  that  such  a 
truly  expressive  style  of  writing  might  be  framed  by  its 
means,  are,  in  a  great  measure,  intuitively  perceived  by 
all  mankind.  To  be  satisfied  of  this,  we  need  only  advert 
to  a  few  instances  which  are  familiar  to  us  all ;  which 
prove,  that  although  the  existence  of  an  analogy  immuta- 
bly established  by  the  laws  of  nature  between  natural  im- 
ages and  spiritual  essences,  may  seem  new  to  us  when  first 
we  hear  it  distinctly  affirmed,  this  is  only  for  want  of  hav- 
ing made  it  a  subject  of  reflection  ;  whilst  we  have  at  the 
same  time,  a  natural  consciousness  of  it,  which  gives  birth 
to  many  of  our  conclusions,  and  is  the  origin  of  many 
forms  of  speech  in  common  use. 

(1.)  In  regard  to  the  conclusions  we  draw  frOm  it  : 
What  is  better  known,  for  example,  to  every  human  being, 
than  that  the  face  is,  in  a  very  great  degree,  an  index  of 
the  mind,  and  that  it  would  be  most  completely  such,  did 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  119 

not  man  often  endeavour  to  conceal  what  is  passing  within, 
and  thus  to  give  an  expression  to  his  countenance  which  is 
foreign  to  the  sentiments  of  his  heart  ?  What  is  more 
common,  when  we  first  see  a  stranger,  than  to  form  an 
opinion  in  regard  to  the  dispositions  of  his  mind  from  cer- 
tain marks  of  character  which  we  see  written  in  his  face  ? 
And  though,  for  the  reason  just  mentioned,  we  are  here 
liable  to  be  mistaken,  this  experience  does  not  prevent  ns 
from  deducing  such  conclusions  altogether,  but  only  from 
depending  on  them  too  much  :  a  person's  looks  invariably 
make  some  impression  upon  us,  and  we  continually  find 
ourselves  apt  to  draw  from  them  some  prejudice  or  pre- 
possession. 

But  although  we  are  liable  to  mistake  in  the  opinion  we 
thus  form  of  the  general  character,  we  can  scarcely  err  in 
deciding  what  are  the  affections  which  at  any  time  reign  in 
a  person's  mind,  when  he  is  under  circumstances  tliat  af- 
fect him  very  strongly.  None  but  the  most  accomplished 
hypocrite  can  prevent  us  from  discovering  what  are  the 
feelings  which  agitate  his  breast,  when  they  are  under  any 
very  powerful  excitement.  Who  cannot  tell  whether  a 
person  is  angry  or  pleased,  buoyed  up  by  hope  or  weighed 
clown  by  despair,  melted  by  pity  or  inflamed  with  rage, 
merely  by  observing  the  lineaments  of  his  countenance  .'' 
But  these  discoveries  of  the  interior  emotions  of  the  mind 
from  the  exterior  form  of  the  face,  would  be  utterly  im- 
possible, did  there  not  exist  a  certain  relation  between 
things  spiritual  and  things  natural, — between  the  spiritual 
things  which  exist  in  the  mind  and  the  natural  appearances 
which  the  face  assumes.  It  is  from  this  origin  alone  that 
the  invisible  things  of  the  mind  become  visible  in  the 
countenance  :  the  higher  flows  into  the  lower,  and  moulds 
it  in  an  instant  into  a  form,  which,  Nature  teaches  us  all,  is 
the  image  of  itself.  Yet  what  two  things  can  be  more  dis- 
tinct than  the  mind  and  the  face  ?  Great  disputes  have 
divided  the  schools  respecting  the  part  of  the  system  in 


120  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

which  the  mind  holds  her  court  ;  but  none  have  dreamed 
of  placing  lier  seat  in  the  face:  yet  in  the  face,  unquestion- 
ably, much  of  tise  mind  is  to  be  seen  ;  and  all  who  there 
read  her  emotions,  view  a  branch  of  the  analogy  between 
things  material  and  immaterial,  and  testify  to  the  fact,  that 
of  this,  in  many  respects,  man  has  an  intuitive  perception. 

(2.)    But   to   state  a  few  of  the   instances  in  which  this 
perception  is  the  origin  of  forms  of  speecli  in  common  use. 

What  is  more  common  with  mankind,  than  to  use  such 
forms  of  expression  as  these  :  "  I  see  what  you  mean:  what 
you  have  observed  throws  a  great  light  on  the  subject  ;  it 
must  convince  all  who  will  take  a  candid  view  of  the  ques- 
tion, and  look  at  it  in  all  its  bearings."  And  whenever  we 
thus  express  ourselves,  we  acknowledge  the  existence  of  a 
fixed  relation  between  natural  things  and  spiritual  ;  other- 
wise we  siiould  never  talk  of  seeing^  taking  a  vieiv,  and  look- 
ing at,  which  are  the  actions  of  a  bodily  sense,  and  of  light, 
which  is  a  natural  object,  in  reference  to  the  operations  of 
the  mind  :  but  we  speak  in  this  manner,  because  we  are  in- 
wardly sensible,  that  the  sight  of  the  bodily  eye  answers  to 
the  sight  of  the  mental  eye,  which  is  the  perception  of  the 
understanding  ;  and  that  the  light  of  the  natural  world  an- 
swers to  the  light  of  the  moral  world,  which  is  truth:  thus 
when  we  say  we  see  that  a  thing  is  so,  w^e  mean  tliat  we 
understand  it;  and  when  we  add  that  a  light  is  thrown  upon 
a  subject,  we  mean  that  the  truth  respecting  it  is  rendered 
evident.  Again  :  What  is  more  common  than  to  speak  of 
a  xoarm  affection,  a  burning  desire  ;  or,  when  Ave  behold  a 
person  eager  in  any  pursuit,  to  say,  that  he  is  all  on  fire  ^ 
Yet  such  forms  of  speech  would  be  quite  destitute  of  mean- 
ing, unless  there  does  actually  exist  a  regular  relation  of 
analogy  between  things  spiritual  and  things  natural, — be- 
tween natural  heat,  which  is  that  of  fire,  and  spiritual  heat, 
which  is  that  of  love:  thus  intensity  of  love  is  what  we  always 
mean  when  we  thus  speak,  metaphorically,  of  heat,  and  of 
fire  ;  and  whenever  we  thus  express  ourselves,  we  betray 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  121 

an  involuntary  consciousness  of  the  reality  of  the  above 
relation.  Again  :  How  continually  do  we  hear  and  use 
such  forms  of  speech  as  these! — AVhen  readily  assenting  to 
a  request,  we  frequently  say,  "  I  will  do  it  with  all  my 
heart:'"  when  speaking  in  commendation  of  a  person  whom 
we  esteem,  we  often  say,  "  He  has  a  good  heart ;"  and 
Avhen  we  see  a  man  extremely  intent  upon  any  object,  we 
say,  "  His  whole  heart  is  in  it."  But  how  absurd  it  would 
be  to  use  such  expressions,  if,  by  the  heart,  we  meant  no- 
thing more  than  the  organ  by  which  the  blood  is  impelled 
through  the  body  !  It  is  certain  that  when  we  thus  men- 
tion the  hearty  we  mean  the  loill  and  affections  :  and  the  rea- 
son why  we  thus  speak  of  one  thing  instead  of  another,  is, 
because  there  is  a  mutual  relation  between  them  ;  since,  as 
has  been  shewn  above,  the  heart  discharges  a  function  in  re- 
spect to  the  body  similar  to  that  which  the  will  discharges 
in  respect  to  the  mind:  and  our  exchanging  the  terms  arises 
from  a  secret  perception  of  the  truth  of  this  analogy.  So, 
in  all  ages  and  among  all  nations,  it  has  been  usual  to  con- 
sider the  hand  as  an  emblem  of  power ,  and  to  introduce  the 
name  of  this  important  member  into  various  phrases,  when 
we  mean,  either  to  speak  simply  of  power,  or  to  express 
some  kindred  sentiment  which  has  the  idea  of  power  as  its 
root  :  thus,  how  common  it  is,  among  politicians,  to  talk 
of  strengthening  the  hands  of  government,  meaning  there- 
by, so  to  support  the  government,  that  it  may  have  power 
to  execute  its  designs  ! — and  here,  again,  we  refer  to  the 
sense  we  all  have,  of  the  fixed  relation  between  things  ma- 
terial and  moral,  natural  and  spiritual. 

These  instances  are  chiefly  drawn  from  the  organs  of 
the  human  body  ;  and  whoever  is  disposed  to  carry  his 
observation  of  this  class  of  analogies  farther,  will  find, 
that  we  in  like  manner  frequently  transfer  all  the  terms, 
which,  in  their  primary  signification,  describe  the  action 
of  the  bodily  senses,  to  express  certain  operations  of  the 
mind,  of  which  the  senses  are  appropriate  images. 
16 


122  PLENARY    1>'SPIRATI0N    OF 

But  we  by  no  means  take  all  our  helps  to  expressive 
speech  of  this  kind  from  ourselves  ;  we  as  frequently  bor- 
row them  from  tlie  animal  creation,  mentioning  the  names 
of  animals  when  we  mean  to  express  the  moral  and  intel- 
lectual qualities  to  which  we  perceive  they  answer.  Thus 
we  often  call  children  lambs,  on  account  of  their  innocence: 
and  to  describe  a  pure  affection  between  the  sexes  we  take 
the  suitable  image  of  doves,  calling  by  that  name  those 
whose  mutual  attachment  is  distinguished  by  its  tenderness 
and  constancy,  and  by  the  innocence  which  it  seems  to 
breathe.  An  eminent  wariior  we  call  a  lion,  on  account 
of  his  proicess.  The  eagle  is  taken  as  an  emblem  of  a  toioer' 
ing  intellect,  on  account  of  his  mounting  to  such  a  height  in 
his  aerial  excursions,  and  the  steadiness  with  which  he  can 
fix  his  gaze  on  the  sun;  as  is  a  hawk  of  acute  discernment,  for 
his  extraordinary  keenness  of  sight.  And  when  we  behold  a 
person  indulging  in  flights  of  a  soaring  imagination  we  bor- 
row the  appropriate  figure  of  a  winged  horse,  invented  by 
the  ancients,  and  say,  "  He  has  mounted  his  Pegasus." 

Were  we  however  to  turn  our  attention  to  a  still  lower 
class  of  analogies,  and  endeavour  to  recollect  the  multitude 
of  terms  and  phrases,  borrowed  from  the  physical  proper- 
ties of  various  common  and  inanimate  objects,  to  express 
the  qualities  of  the  faculties,  operations,  and  products  of 
the  mind  ;  we  should  find  ourselves  in  a  spacious  field  in- 
deed. How  familiarly  do  we  speak,  and  how  frequently 
do  we  hear,  of  stabbing  with  reproaches,  or  of  using  cutting 
words  ;  of  corrosive  thoughts  ;  of  bitter  pangs,  both  of  body 
and  mind;  oi  sharp  afflictions,  and  acute  sufferings,  likewise 
of  both  kinds  ;  of  lacerated  feelings  ;  of  biting  sarcasms  ;  of 
grinding  oppression  ;  o(  upright  dealings;  oi  crooked  policy; 
of  straight-forward  proceeding  ;  of  melting  tenderness  ;  of 
hardened  wickedness  ;  of  soft  compassion  ;  with  a  thousand 
other  such  combinations  !  which  are  all  absolutely  hetero- 
geneous, if  the  essentially  different  nature  of  the  ideas 
combined  be  alone  regarded,   but   which,    nevertheless, 


THE  SCRIPTURES  ASSERTED,  &C.         123 

strike  no  one  as  absurd,  as  they  would  do,  if  not   in  some 
way  founded  in  the  very  nature  of  things.     They  have 
such  a  foundation,  and  therefore  they  do  not  offend  us  : 
the  reason  is,  because,  though  heterogeneous  in  one  respect, 
they  are  homogeneous  in  another  ;   though  physical  pro- 
perties are  applied  to  moral  objects,  and  are  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  the  properties  of  such  objects,  they  answer  to 
them  by  rm  exact   analogy,  and  are,  in   a  lower  sphere, 
what  the  others  are  in  a  higher.     Of  this,  all   men  have  a 
perception  ;  we  therefore  readily  translate  the  idea  of  the 
physical  property  into  that  of  the  moral  one;  and  this,  of- 
ten, so  instantaneously,  that  we  do  not  advert  to  the  phy- 
sical idea  at  all  ;   all  which  would  be  impossible,  did  not 
Nature  herself  dictate  the  interpretation,  and  thus  assure 
us  that  the  language   is  her   own.     Men,  also,  more  parti- 
cularly have  recourse  to   such  language,  when  they  most 
strongly  feel  what  they  say  ;  when  they  speak,  as  it  were, 
more  immediately    under  the   inspiration  of  Nature,   and 
when  their  thoughts  flow  more  regularly  in  agreement  with 
her  laws.     Then  it  is  that  they  have  a  more  clear  intuition 
of  the  analogy  that  reigns  between  the  various  provinces  of 
her  empire,  and  thus  are  better  enabled  to  give  force  to  a 
purely  intellectual  idea,  by  calling  its  counterpart  material 
one  to  its  aid  :  as  the  hero,  when  rising  to  the  defence  of 
his  country,  fortifies  the  vital  parts  of  his  frame  by  a  cloth- 
ing of  armour  fitted  over  Nature's  investment  of  ribs  and 
flesh,  and  adds  the  power  of  his  sword  to  that  of  his  hand. 
(3.)  Now,  what  all  see  to  hold  good  in  some  cases,  must 
also  be  admitted  to  hold  good  universally  ;  and  thus  we 
shall  find  that  the  common  perceptions  of  mankind  irre- 
sistibly confirm  tlie  existence,  through  all  the  kingdoms 
or  spheres  of  being,   of  that  constant  analogy,  which  we 
have  before  endeavoured  to  establish  from  the  very  nature 
of  thinffs.     If  there  be  a  great  number  of  instances  in 
which  the  Mutual  Relation   between  things  moral,   intel- 
lectual, and  spiritual,  and  things  material,  sensible,  and 


124  PLENART    INSPIRATION    OF 

natural,  is  so  evident,  that  every  human  being  intuitively 
perceives  it  ;  must  we  not  necessarily  conclude,  that  tiiere 
are  innumerable  other  instances  in  which  a  similar  relation 
exists,  although  it  is  not  so  immediately  obvious  to  our 
dark  apprehensions  ?  Must  it  not,  indeed,  be  absolutely 
certain,  that  such  a  relation  prevails,  not  only  in  many 
other  instances,  but  in  all  cases  whatsoever  ?  This  is  a  fact 
that  api)ears  to  be  capable  of  demonstration.  For  we 
know  that  all  things  which  exist  in  this  natural  world, 
how  much  soever  they  may  differ  from  each  other,  have, 
nevertheless,  one  common  nature,  and  are  derived  from 
one  common  origin  :  they  all  are  forms  compacted  of  ma- 
terial substances,  or  are  modifications  of  such  forms,  and 
they  all  have  the  first  cause  of  their  existence  in  God  :  If 
then  we  see,  incontrovertibly,  that  some  of  the  objects 
which  lie  obviovis  to  our  senses  in  the  natural  world,  have 
a  Relation  of  Analogy  with  certain  moral  and  spiritual 
things,  it  follows,  by  inevitable  consequence,  that  all  the 
other  objects  of  this  natural  world,  by  virtue  of  their  pos- 
sessingr  the  same  common  nature  and  the  same  common 
origin,  must  also  possess  the  same  kind  of  Relation  to  cer- 
tain other  moral  or  spiritual  things.  In  fact,  as  has  in 
part  been  shewn  above,  the  causes  of  all  natural  objects  im- 
mediately lie  in  the  world  of  spiritual  existences,  so  that, 
in  reality,  spiritual  tilings  are,  instrumentally,  the  produc- 
ing causes,  by  derivation  from  the  First  Cause,  of  natural 
things  :  and  hence  the  s])iritual  cause  and  the  natural 
effect,  must,  universally,  answer  to  each  other. 

This  is  most  plainly  the  case  with  man's  soul  and  body  ; 
in  regard  to  which  we  will  make  this  further  observation. 
Man's  body,  we  know,  cannot  exist  a  moment  alone,  any 
otherwise  than  as  a  corpse  ;  whereas,  according  to  the 
Scriptures,  and  the  truest  philosophy,  his  soul  is  capable 
of  subsisting  in  a  separate  state.  It  is  evident,  then,  that 
the  soul  is  the  higlier  subsistence  of  the  two  ;  and  it  hence 
becomes  certain,  that  the  soul  is  the  immediate  producing 
cause  of  the  body.     Even  if  we  suppose,  with  the  mate- 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  126 

rialist,  the  soul  to  be  nothing  but  a  certain  mental  life  and 
activity,  incapable  of  existing  separately  from  the  body, 
this  will  not  affect  our  argument  ;  since  it  is  undeniably 
true,  that  it  was  in  order  that  such  mental  life  and  activity 
might  come  into  existence,  that  the  body  is  produced. 
Be  the  soul  what  it  may,  it  is  certain  that  the  body  is 
formed  merely  for  its  sake,  and  for  its  use.  Now  as  we 
have  before  seen  that  there  is  a  Relation  of  Analogy  be- 
tween the  face,  with  certain  other  organs  of  the  body,  and 
certain  faculties  of  the  mind,  which  is  nearly  identical 
with  tlie  soul  ;  so  also  must  it  be  true,  that  the  whole  of 
the  body,  taken  together,  answers  to  the  whole  of  the 
soul,  and  every  distinct  organ  or  member  of  the  body  to 
some  distinct  faculty  or  principle  of  the  soul  ;  and  this 
because  it  is  derived  from  it,  or  is  formed  for  its  sake,  to 
be  its  seat  and  instrument  of  action  in  the  world  of  nature. 

Now  what  is  true  of  the  human  body  and  soul,  is  true 
likewise  of  all  the  objects  in  nature  and  of  certain  spiritual 
principles  which  are  the  proximate  causes  of  their  exist- 
ence ;  these,  again,  being  emanations,  as  it  were,  from 
their  inmost  essences  in  the  perfections  of  Deity.  There 
is  a  Mutual  Relation  or  Analogy  between  them.  It  is  evi- 
dent then,  that  the  instances  in  which  mankind  are  in  the 
habit  of  speaking  in  phrases  drawn  from  this  Analogy, 
are  but  as  a  few  gems  taken  from  the  entrance  to  an  ex- 
haustless  mine  ;  for  that  every  object  in  nature,  were  its 
properties  as  well  understood  as  those  of  the  objects  from 
whence  our  illustrations  have  been  taken,  would  furnish 
other  such  phrases,  and  the  whole  together,  varieties  un- 
bounded. 

Here  we  find  ourselves  repeating  in  other  words,  (but 
now  as  a  conclusion  from  the  premises  advanced,)  the  pro- 
position stated  above  :  That,  were  the  Relation  of  Analogy 
between  the  different  orders  of  existences  in  the  Universe 
well  understood,  a  style  of  writing  might  be  constructed, 
in  which,  while  none  but  natural  images  were  used,  purely 


126  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

intellectual  ideas  should  be  most  fully  expressed.  Such  a 
style  of  language,  also,  would,  as  in  the  instances  before 
noticed  wherein  this  kind  of  interchange  is  still  in  use,  be 
incomparably  more  forcible  than  that  composed  of  ab- 
stract terms,  and  would,  when  applied  to  exalted  subjects, 
embi'ace  an  infinity  more  of  meaning,  than  can  possibly  be 
infused  into  the  best  selected  arrangement  of  metaphysical 
expressions.  But  then,  to  employ  this  language  with  all 
its  power,  we  must  suppose  a  perfect  knowledge  of  both 
sides  of  the  analogies  ; — not  only  of  the  properties  and  in- 
trinsic nature  of  all  the  natural  objects  whence  images  are 
to  be  taken,  but  of  all  the  moral,  intellectual,  and  spiritual 
things  to  express  which  the  former  are  to  be  applied  :  and 
this  is  the  wisdom  of  Omniscience.  While  then  man, 
from  this  treasury,  can  only  borrow  a  few  scattered  jewels 
to  set  off  his  intellectual  dress,  the  arrangement  of  them, 
through  all  their  series,  into  glorious  forms  of  suns  and 
stars,  to  adorn  a  robe  of  imperial  splendour,  demands  the 
skill  of  the  Owner  and  Author  of  the  whole  ;  and  thiey 
who  catch  a  glimpse  of  such  a  production,  must  study  with 
devotional  feelings  and  a  teachable  spirit,  together  with 
just  ideas  of  its  nature,  the  Word  of  God. 

2.  For  it  is  in  language  of  such  construction,  that  the 
Holy  Word  is  written  throughout  ;  as  we  hope  will  clearly 
appear  in  the  sequel  :  at  present  we  will  only  mention  a 
few  palpable  instances  of  the  occurrence  in  that  book  of 
such  forms  of  speech  as  we  have  already  noticed. 

We  have  seen  above,  that  the  face  or  countenance  of  man 
is  an  index  of  his  mind,  insomuch  that  the  interior  emo- 
tions and  thoughts  of  his  mind  are  therein  expressed  : 
hence,  whenever  the  face  is  spoken  of  in  the  Word  of  God, 
the  interior  affections  and  ideas  or  thoughts  of  the  mind 
are  uniformly  to  be  understood.  Thus,  mention  is  very 
frequently  made  of  the  face  of  the  Lord  ;  as  in  the  form 
•jf  blpssin-g  the  people  prescribed  to  Moses  and  Aaron  : 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  127 

"  The  Lord  bless  thee  and  keep  thee  ;  the  Lord  make  his 
face  shine  upon  thee  and  be  gracious  unto  thee  ;  the  Lord 
lift  up  his  countenance  upon  thee- and  give  thee  peace."* 
Here,  by  the  face  and  countenance  of  the  Lord  are  meant 
the  interior  attributes  or  properties  of  the  Lord,  or  those 
which  constitute  his  essence  ;  and  these  are,  generally 
speaking,  divine  love  and  divine  wisdom,  or  divine  good- 
ness and  divine  truth  ;  and  by  the  Lord's  making  his  face 
to  shine,  and  lifting  up  his  countenance^  upon  the  objects  of 
his  blessing,  is  signified  the  communication  to  them  of  all 
the  graces,  with  their  accompanying  felicities,  of  which 
those  divine  principles  are  the  source.  It  may  also  be 
observed  that  the  attribute  of  the  sun,  which  is,  to 
shine,  is  here  ascribed  to  the  Lord's  face  :  so  we  some- 
times read,  more  explicitly,  of  the  Lord's  face  being  as  the 
sun  ;f  and  as  from  the  sun  flow  heat  and  light  to  recreate 
the  natural  objects  on  which  it  shines,  so  from  the  Divine 
Sun  flow  love  and  wisdom  to  bless  intelligent  creatures. 
We  have  seen,  also,  that  the  sight  of  the  bodily  eye  an- 
swers to  the  sight  of  the  mental  eye,  or  the  understanding, 
and  that  natural  light  bears  an  exact  analogy  to  spiritual 
light,  which  is  truth  :  hence  it  is  written,  "  The  people 
that  walked  in  darkness  have  seeu  a  great  light  ;"|  by 
which  is  meant,  that  they  who  before  were  in  ignorance, 
which  is  spiritual  darkness,  were  brought  to  a  knowledge 
of  the  truth  :  and  hence  also  it  is  said,  in  a  passage  cited 
for  another  purpose  in  our  last  Lecture,  "  Open  thou  mine 
tyes^  that  I  may  behold  wondrous  things  out  of  thy  law  ;"§ 
for  it  is  certain  that  the  interior  glories  of  the  law  or 
Word  of  God  are  not  to  be  beheld  by  our  bodily  eyes,  but 
by  our  mental, — that  is,  they  are  to  be  perceived  by  the  un- 
derstanding. We  have  seen,  likewise,  that  natural  heat, 
which  is  that'of  ^re,  bears  a  recognized  relation  to  spirit- 

*  Numb.  vi.  24,  25,  2G.  f  Matt.  xvii.  2,  Rev.  i.  16.  X  Isa.  ix.  2. 

§  Ps.  cxix.  18. 


128  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

ual  lieat,  which  is  that  of  luvt.  Hence  it  is  that  the  abode 
of  the  lost  hereafter  is  compared  to  "a  furnace  of  ^re,"* 
and  is  said  to  be  a  place  "  where  the  worm  dieth  not,  and 
the  fire  is  not  quenched  :"f  for  by  the  never-dying  worm 
is  aptly  expressed  the  perpetual  gnawing  of  corrosive 
thoughts,  and  by  the  unqnenclied  fire  the  insatiate  raging 
of  evil  lusts.  In  this  instance,  fire  is  mentioned  to  expiess 
love  of  a  wicked  and  infernal  character  ;  but  it  is  frequent- 
ly used  to  express  such  as  is  heavenly  and  divine  :  thus  it 
is  said  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  "  He  shall  baptize 
with  the  Holy  Spirit  and  with  fire  ;"|  by  whicli  is  meant, 
that  he  will  regenerate  his  disciples  by  his  Spirit  of  Truth 
and  his  Divine  Love.  We  have  seen,  further,  that  the 
heart  of  man  is  intuitively  perceived  to  bear  a  relation  of 
analogy  to  his  will.  Hence  it  is  said  in  the  Holy  Word, 
that  "  the  heart  of  man  is  deceitful  above  all  things  and 
desperately  wicked  ;"§  by  which  we  aie  taught  that  the 
will  of  man  is,  through  sin,  of  such  a  quality  ;  whence  the 
Lord  says  by  the  prophet,  "  1  will  take  away  the  stony 
heart  out  of  their  flesh,  and  give  them  a  heart  of  flesh  :"|| 
bv  which  is  signified,  that  the  icill  of  evil  shall  be  remov- 
ed, and  the  will  of  good  implanted,  with  those  who  submit 
themselves  to  be  guided  by  the  Lord  :  and  it  is  not  said 
that  this  new  heart  shall  be  a  heart  oi  fiesh,  merely  to  con- 
trast the  softness  of  this  material  with  the  hardness  of 
stone, — though  this  affords  a  poetical  figure,  likewise 
founded  in  a  real  analogy,  and  equally  beautiful  and  ex- 
pressive,— but  on  account,  also,  of  the  less  remote  analogy, 
which,  as  we  have  seen  above,  ^es/i  itself  bears  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  goodness.  Finally  we  have  noticed,  how  prolific 
a  source  of  metaphorical  phrases  has  been  aff"orded  by  the 
plain  analogy  between  the  human  hand  and  the  principle 
of  poicer  :  and  of  applications  of  this  image  the  Scriptures 
are  full.     Thus  how  often  it  is  said  that  the  Lord  brought 

*  Matt.  V.  42.        t  Mark  ix.  44,  46,  48.     Isa.  Ixvi.  24.         t  Matt.  iii.  U. 
§  Jer.  xvii.  9.        ||  Ezek.  xi.  19. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  129 

the  Israelites  out  of  Egpyt  by  "  n  mighty  hand,"  or  "  by 
a  mifhty  hand  and  a  stretched  out  arm  !"*  No  one  sup- 
poses that  this  was  done  by  t!ie  visible  j)utti!ig  fortli  of  a 
hand  and  arm  from  the  person  of  God  ;  but  all  who  be- 
lieve the  history  allow,  that  it  was  effected  by  a  wonder- 
ful exertion  of  Divine  Omnipotence.  So,  when  it  is  said 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  "  he  was  received  up  into 
heaven,  and  sat  on  the  right  hand  of  God,"f  few  minds  can 
be  so  gross  as  to  dare  to  picture  to  their  imagination  two 
personal  divine  forms  sitting  side  by  side  on  the  throne  of 
heaven  ;  but  all  must  see  that  the  phrase  is  introduced  to 
teach  the  same  truth  resj)ecting  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as, 
in  another  evangelist,  he  declares  respecting  himself  in 
plain  terms  :  "  ^ill  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and 
in  earth  :":{:  Jill  power  is  omnipotence  :  to  be  received  up 
and  sit  on  the  right  hand  of  God,  evidently,  then,  can  mean 
nothing  else,  than  the  exaltation  of  that  which  was  so  re- 
ceived up,  which  was  the  glorified  Human  Nature  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  the  full  possession  and  exercise  of 
Divine  Omnipotence, — to  be  the  instrument  by  which, 
thenceforth,  the  Divine  Omnipotence  was  to  be  exerted. 

It  would  be  highly  interesting,  and  would  materially 
help  to  confirm  the  important  result  to  which  all  the  facts 
and  examples  which  we  have  here  noticed  tend,  could  we 
stop  to  examine  some  instances  in  the  Scriptures,  similar  to 
those  adduced  above  from  common  discourse,  of  the  for- 
mation of  expressive  phrases  by  applying  the  names  of  ani- 
mals, and  of  the  qualities  of  inanimate  objects,  to  describe 
mental  powers  and  properties  :  but  we  must  not  anticipate 
too  far  the  subject  of  our  two  next  Lectures.  Tiie  exam- 
ples above  adduced  from  common  speech,  and  these  few 
from  Scripture,  must  be  sufficient  to  establish  the  fact 
which  we  have  had  in  view  in  this  branch  of  our  argument ; 

*  Dput.  iv.  34,  V.  15,  vi.  21.  vii.  8,  19.  ix.  26,  xi.  2,  xxvi.  S,  xxxiv.  12. 
t  Mark  xvi.  19.  t  Matt,  xxviii.  18. 

17 


130  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OP 

— That  were  the  Relation  of  Analogy  between  natural  and 
spiritual  existences  well  understood,  a  style  of  writing 
might  be  constructed,  in  which,  while  none  but  natural 
images  were  used,  purely  intellectual  ideas  should  be  most 
fidly  conveyed  :  and  the  examples  from  Scripture  in  par- 
ticular, must  surely  be  felt  to  render  highly  probable  the 
further  conclusion,  tiiat  this  is  actually  the  style  in  which 
the  Word  of  God  is  written.  On  the  application  of  the 
Rule  of  Analogy,  we  see  how  clear  and  beautiful  a  sense 
result?  from  passages  otherwise  extremely  mysterious  ;  and 
thougli  a  general  idea  of  the  meaning  of  such  passages  as 
we  have  now  considered,  might  present  itself  to  almost 
every  reader,  we  see  that  what  could  otherwise  be  only 
an  obscure,  shadowy,  undefined  idea,  becomes,  on  the  ap- 
plication of  the  Rule,  clear,  distinct,  and  definite.  There 
arc,  however,  multitudes  of  analogies  which  have  quite 
dropped  out  of  use  in  common  speech,  but  which  are  re- 
tained in  Scripture  ;  and  in  the  interpretation  of  such  pas- 
sages, without  a  knowledge  of  the  principle,  nothing  could 
be  offered  but  mere  conjecture.  This,  however,  will  be 
seen  more  clearly  in  the  sequel  ;  what  we  are  here  chiefly 
aiming  at  is,  to  establish,  beyond  question,  the  universal 
existence  of  such  a  Mutual  Relation  between  things  natu- 
ral, spiritual,  and  divine,  as  we  have  endeavoured  to  ex- 
plain. This  is  testified,  we  have  seen,  by  every  thing  that 
we  know  respecting  all  these  different  orders  of  being  : 
the  conviction  comes  more  closely  home  to  us,  when  we 
notice  that  we  intuitively  perceive  it,  and  draw  from  it 
many  of  our  every-day  phrases  :  and  it  is  further  confirm- 
ed still,  if,  while  we  only  look  at  the  Scriptures  as  a  col- 
lection of  very  ancient  writings,  composed  in  an  idiom 
generally  in  use  in  the  early  ages  of  the  world,  we  find 
them  full  of  forms  of  speech  evidently  constructed  on  the 
same  universal  principle.  In  fact,  the  doctrine  of  Analo- 
gy, and  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  mutually  illustrate  each 
other.     In  the  Scriptures,  more  than  any  where  else,  are 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    ScC.  131 

afforded  the  means  of  recovering  the  knowledge  of  this 
Analogy  ;  and,  without  arguing  in  a  circle,  we  sliall  find 
in  the  end,  that  the  doctrine  of  spiritual  Analogy  will 
afford  the  only  key  for  arriving  at  a  satisfactory  interprt- 
tation  of  the  Scriptures. 

IV.  Among  those,  however,  who  think  that  nothing 
^vhich  is  new  can  ])ossibly  be  true,  there  may  be  some  who 
will  be  unwilling  to  contemj)late  those  clear  proofs  of  the 
existence  of  a  Mutual  Relation  betweeiT  things  natural  and 
spiritual  which  Nature  every  where  exhibits,  unless  to  the 
testimony  of  Nature,  confiirmed  by  Reason,  be  added  that 
of  human  autliority.  This  then  may  be  produced  in 
abundance,  provided  great  antiquity  should  not  be  deem- 
ed as  objectionable  as  absolute  novelty  :  for  certain  it  is, 
that,  in  the  remote  ages,  tlie  Relation  in  question  Avas  very 
extensively  understood.  The  passages  already  quoted 
from  the  Scriptures  evince,  that,  when  they  Avere  written, 
the  Relation  of  Analogy  between  natural  and  spiritual  sub- 
jects, if  not  necessarily  known  to  the  writers  of  the  books, 
was  present  to  the  Divine  Mind  by  whose  inspiration  they 
wrote  them  ;  and  being  thus  recognized  by  him  whose 
existence  is  from  everlasting,  it  has  the  sanction  of  an  anti- 
quity coeval  with  the  origin  of  all  creation  ;  of  which  fact 
we  shall  find  abundantly  more  confirmations  in  the  sequel. 
But  if  there  be  any  who  can  fear  to  give  themselves  up  to 
this  evidence  ; — who  will  even  distrust  the  voice  of  God, 
added  to  the  dictates  of  Nature,  till  it  is  authenticated  by 
the  testimony  of  man  :  they  need  not  reject  it,  in  this 
instance,  for  the  want  of  such  credentials. 

I.  It  is  even  imnecessary  to  travel  out  of  the  Word  of 
God  itself,  for  testimony  of  this  kind  :  for  if  we  only  take 
its  relations  as  authentic  history,  whether  dictated  by  di- 
vine inspiration  or  not,  we  shall  find  that  some  of  them 
give  full  proof  of  the  fact,  that  the  knowdedge  of  tiie  Rela- 


132  PLKKART    INSPIRATION    OF 

tion  between  things  spiritual  and  natural,  whereby  they 
mutually  answer  to  each  other,  and  whereby  the  natural 
afford  proper  images  for  the  expression  of  the  spiritual, 
was  in  ancient  times  widely  diffused.  We  might  instance 
tlie  case  of  Balaam,  a  native  of  Mesopotamia,  who  thrice 
directed  Balak  to  build  seven  altars,  and  to  offer  a  bullock 
and  a  ram  on  every  altar,*  Avhen  he  was  desirous  to 
obtain  an  "  enchantment  against  Jacob,  and  a  divination 
against  Israel  ;"t  and  who  actually  did,  in  consequence  of 
these  emblematic  preparations,  obtain  communications 
from  heaven,  though  of  a  contrary  nature  to  those  which 
he  and  his  employer  wished  for  : — circumstances  which 
evince,  that  there  really  was  a  connexion  between  the 
communications  obtained  and  the  ceremonies  performed, 
and  wliich  establish  the  really  typical  character  of  the  lat- 
ter, and  the  knowledge  of  this  possessed  by  Balaam. 

But  we  have  a  still  more  remarkable  instance  of  the 
preservation  of  this  knowledge,  in  the  account  of  the 
events  which  befel  the  Philistines  after  they  had  taken  in 
battle  the  ark,  which  was  the  most  holy  symbol  in  the 
representative  worship  of  tiie  Jews.  The  chief  circum- 
stances were  as  follows. | 

On  capturing  tiie  ark,  they  placed  it  in  the  hoiue  of  their 
idol  Dagon  ;  and  the  consequejice  was,  that  the  next  morning 
they  found  the  idol  fallen  with  his  face  to  the  ground  be- 
fore it.  They  however  regarded  this  as  an  accident,  and 
set  the  idol  up  again  :  when,  the  following  morning,  beside 
finding  tiie  idol  thrown  down  afresh,  they  found  his  head 
and  both  his  hands  cut  off,  and  lying  upon  the  threshold. 
Andnot  only  did  judgments  thus  fall  u})on  the  idol,  but  upon 
his  infatuated  worsliippers,  who  died  in  great  numbers, 
and  those  who  died  not  were  smitten  with  emerods  :  the 
land,  also,  was  overrun  with  mice.  They  then  determin- 
ed to  send  the  ark  away,  as  the  only  means  of  obtaining 

•  Numb,  xriii.  1,  14,  9f).  f   Vrr,  23.  i  3pe  1  Sam.  Ch«.  r.  and  vi. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  133 

deliverance  from  the  miseries  which  they  suffered  ;  but  on 
consulting  their  priests  and  diviners,  these  said,  "  If  ye 
send  away  the  ark  of  the  God  of  Israel,  send  it  not  empty, 
but  in  any  wise  return  him  a  trespass  offering."  Then 
tliey  said,  "  What  shall  be  the  trespass  offering  ?"  The 
others  answered,  "  Five  golden  emeroijs  and  five  golden 
mice,  according  to  the  number  of  the  lords  of  the  Philis- 
tines." They  also  directed  them  to  make  a  new  cart,  and 
to  take  two  milch  kine  on  which  there  had  come  no  yoke, 
and  tie  them  to  the  cart,  and  bring  their  calves  home  from 
them,  and  send  away  the  ark  :  and  they  said,  "  See,  if  it 
goeth  up  by  the  way  of  his  own  coast,  to  Bethshemesh," 
(which  was  the  nearest  Israelitish  city,)  "  then  he  (the 
Lord)  hath  done  us  this  great  evil  :  but  if  not,  then  Ave 
shall  know  that  it  is  not  his  hand  that  smote  us  ;  it  was  a 
chance  that  happened  to  us."  All  this  was  accordingly 
done  :  "  And  the  kine,"  the  history  relates,  "  which  drew 
the  cart,  took  the  straight  way  to  Bethshemesh,  lowing  as 
they  went,  without  tuining  either  to  the  right  hand  or  to 
the  left  :"  and  when  the  people  of  Bethshemesh  saw  it, 
they  offered  up  the  kine  for  a  burnt  offering,  cutting  to 
pieces  the  cart,  and  making  the  fire  with  the  wood.  Now 
to  what  purpose  could  be  all  these  ceremonies,  if  some- 
thing were  not  specifically  and  correctly  symbolized  by 
every  particular  related  .''  Without  this,  what  Avould  the 
whole  proceedings  amount  to,  but  a  piece  of  idle  mummery.' 
Tliat  thev  were  not  such,  is  evident  from  the  effect  being 
such  as  was  expected  :  the  unguided  kine,  of  their  own 
accord,  took  the  way  to  Bethshemesh,  and  the  Philistines 
were  relieved  from  their  sufferings.  The  whole  then  must 
have  been  a  series  of  representative  images,  founded  in  the 
Relation  of  Analogy  whicii  exists  by  the  constitution  of 
nature  between  natural  things  and  spiritual  :  and  a  know- 
ledge of  this  Relation  must  have  been  possessed,  to  some 
extent,  by  the  Philistine  priests  and  diviners  ;  otherwise, 
how  could  they  have  directed  such  rites  to  be   performed, 


134  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

as,  though  seemingly  trifling,  had  the  effect  of  turning 
away  the  plagues  with  which  the  people  were  afflicted  ? 
The  reason  Avhy  such  effects  followed  the  use  of  such 
means,  is,  because,  prior  to  the  alteration  made  in  the  state 
and  nature  of  the  church  by  the  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  all  worship  was  carried  on  by  representative  rites 
significant  of  spiritual  and  Iieavenly  things,  and  it  was  by 
such  worship,  founded  in  that  Relation  between  things 
spiritual  and  natural,  whereby  the  latter  are  images  of  the 
former,  tliat,  under  the  Economy  which  then  prevailed, 
the  communication  Avas  maintained  between  heaven  and 
earth,  between  God  and  man  ;  and  unless  this  communi- 
cation be  maintained  by  some  means,  neither  man  nor  the 
€arth  could  continue  in  existence.  Ceremonies  then, 
which,  under  such  an  Economy,  were  solemnly  performed 
according  to  this  Relation  of  Analogy,  sometimes  pro- 
duced natural  effects,  answering  to  those  spiritual  ones 
which  real  worship,  with  its  accompanying  graces,  pro- 
duces in  the  mind  :  as  was  often  tlie  case  with  the  rites 
prescril^ed  by  divine  iiuthoiity  to  the  Israelitish  Church  ; 
of  which  we  shall  give  an  example  or  two  in  a  subsequent 
Lecture. 

We  will  briefly  state  what  appears  to  be  implied  by  the 
circumstances  of  the  present  history.  The  ark,  under  the 
Israelitish  Dispensation,  was  a  symbol  of  the  Divine  Pre- 
sence, which  none  but  the  truly  good  can  endure,  and  they 
not  too  near  ;  and  which  causes  the  lusts  cherished  by  the 
wicked  more  openly  to  become  their  tormentors.  The 
Philistines  represent  those  who  exalt  faith  above  charity, 
making  the  former  every  thing,  and  the  latter  of  no  ac- 
count ;  which  was  the  reason  of  their  continual  wars  with 
the  Israelites,  who  represent  the  true  church,  or  those  who 
cherish  faith  in  union  with  charity.  The  idol  Dagon  is 
the  religion  of  tliosc  who  are  represented  by  the  Philis- 
tines. The  emerods  with  which  they  were  smitten,  are 
symbols  of  the  appetites  of  the  natural  man,  which,  when 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  135 

separated  from  spiritvial  affections,  as  is  clone  by  those 
Avho  do  not  apply  their  faith  to  the  purification  of  their 
lives,  are  unclean.  The  mice,  by  which  the  land  was  de- 
vastated, are  images  of  the  lust  of  destroying  by  false  in- 
terpretation the  spiritual  nourishment  which  the  church 
derives  from  the  Word  of  God,  as  is  done  by  those  who 
separate  faith  from  charity.  The  emerods  of  gold  exhibit 
the  natural  appetites  as  purified  and  made  good.  The 
golden  mice  symbolize  the  healing  of  the  tendency  to  false 
interpretation  effected  by  admitting  a  regard  to  goodness  ; 
for  of  this,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  next  example,  gold  is  an 
emblem.  The  cows  are  types  of  the  natural  man,  in  re- 
gard to  such  good  qualities  as  he  possesses.  Their  lowing 
by  the  way  expresses  the  repugnance  of  the  natural  man  to 
the  process  of  conversion.  And  the  offering  of  them  up 
for  a  burnt  offering,  typifies  that  restoration  of  order 
which  takes  place  in  the  mind,  when  the  natural  affections 
are  submitted  to  the  Lord.  It  would  detain  us  too  long 
were  we  to  stay  to  offer  proof  of  the  truth  of  these  expla- 
nations: every  one  may  verify  them  for  himself,  by  trying 
what  sense  will  be  drawn  from  other  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture, where  the  same  emblems  are  used,  on  giving  them  the 
same  interpretation  ;  for  if  the  signification  thus  obtained 
be  every  where  coherent  and  satisfactory,  the  meaning  as- 
signed to  the  symbols  must  be  the  true  one.  But  whether 
our  explanation  be  the  true  one  or  not,  it  will  not  affect 
the  position  for  which  the  history  is  here  cited  :  It  will 
still  be  certain,  that  the  ceremonies  directed  by  the  Philis- 
tine priests  and  diviners  must  have  been  intended  to  have 
some  meaning  :  As  the  expected  events  followed,  it  must 
be  true  that  the  operations  they  prescribed  must  have  had 
a  real  analogy  to  certain  things  of  a  spiritual  nature  :  and 
of  this,  they  must  have  possessed  a  knowledge. 

But  further.  That  an  acquaintance  with  the  Relation 
which  natural  things  l^ear  to  spiritual  Avas  in  ancient  times 
widely  extended,  and  that  it  was  not   altogether  lost  sight 


136  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

of  among  the  eastern  nations  at  the  period  of  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Cliristian  era,  is  evident  from  the  ac- 
count of  the  wise  men  of  the  east,  who,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  a  star,  came  and  "  presented  unto"  the  infant  Sa- 
viour "  gifts  ;  gold,  frankincense,  and  myrrh."*  Without 
entering  into  the  inquiry  respecting  the  nature  of  the  star 
that  appeared,  the  spiritual  thing  represented  by  it  is  ob- 
vious. Stars,  as  being  luminous  bodies,  and  thus  belong- 
ing to  the  general  analogy  of  light,  which,  we  have  seen, 
answers  to  truth,  are  apt  images  of  knowledge  or  informa- 
tion upon  spiritual  subjects  :  hence  this  star,  which  con- 
ducted the  wise  men  to  Jesus,  was  an  appropriate  type  of 
that  knowledge  respecting  tlie  promised  advent  of  the 
Lord,  which  was  retained,  from  ancient  tradition,  among 
the  eastern  people.  The  gifts  which  they  offered  were  em- 
blematical of  the  worship  which  the  truly  wise  will  ever 
be  foremost  in  yielding  to  "  Him  tliat  was  born  King  of 
the  Jews  :"f  on  which  subject  we  will  offer  a  little  expla- 
nation. 

By  the  gifts  which  the  wise  men  presented,  is  pointed 
out,  what  the  nature  of  all  divine  wors^hip  must  be,  if  he 
who  engages  in  it  wishes  it  to  be  acceptable  to  the  Lord  or 
beneficial  to  himself.  An  offering  of  gold,  on  account  of 
the  density,  ductility,  indestructibility,  beautiful  colour, 
and  other  superior  qualities  of  that  metal,  was  seen  in  an- 
cient times,  when  the  jierception  of  such  analogies  was 
more  extensive  than  at  present,  to  be  expressive  of  worship 
from  a  principle  of  pure  love  or  goodness  in  the  will, 
which  is  the  deepest  ground  from  which  we  can  present  an 
offering  to  the  Lord.  It  was  on  account  of  this  significa- 
tion of  gold  that  so  much  use  was  made  of  it  in  the  repre- 
sentative service  of  the  Jewish  tabernacle;  most  of  the  holy 
furniture  of  which  was  overlaid  or  otherwise  ornamented 
with  gold,  if  not  made  of  it  entirely:  for  this  use  of  it  was 

»    Matt.  ii.  11.  t   Matt.  ii.  2. 


THE    8CRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  131 

designed  to  express,  that  there  can  be  no  worship  of  the 
Lord,  and  no  religion,  unless  there  be  in  the  heart  of  the 
worshipper  a  principle  of  sterling  goodness, — a  love  to- 
wards the  Lord  and  his  neighbour.  The  second  offering 
was  of  frankincense,  which  represents  worship  from  a 
principle  of  truth  in  the  understanding  ;  that  is,  not  from 
truth  merely  known  and  comprehended,  for  this,  never- 
theless, may  not  form  the  spontaneous  sentiment  of  a  man's 
own  mind  ;  but  from  truth  loved,  and  of  course  obeyed, 
as  well  as  comprehended  and  known.  This  signification 
of  frankincense  may  be  gathered  from  its  being  the  chief 
inoredient  in  the  holy  perfume  or  incense,  which  was 
burnt  upon  the  golden  altar  in  the  lioly  place  ;*  and  from 
its  being  added  as  a  kind  of  seasoning  to  the  meat-offer- 
ings,! and  spread  upon  the  shew-bread  4  for  the  smoke  of 
incense  is  a  striking  symbol  of  the  aspirations  to  the  Lord 
of  the  heaven-directed  mind,  and  of  the  thoughts  of  a 
heart  that  continually  turns  to  him.  So  the  offering  of 
myrrh  represented  worship  from  a  suitable  life  and  con- 
versation: and  although  this  cannot  so  directly  be  proved, 
it  is  evident  from  this  fact  ;  that  whatever  is  really  in  the 
will,  and  thence  in  the  understanding,  never  stops  there 
inactive,  but  descends,  on  every  suitable  occasion,  into  life 
and  action.  This  is  the  reason  why,  in  the  Scriptures,  so 
many  instances  occur,  as  in  this  passage,  of  a  three-fold  ar- 
rangement. The  particulars  so  enumerated  are  sometimes 
in  an  ascending  series,  but  more  frequently,  as  here,  in  a 
descending  one  ;  and  then  the  last  in  order,  as  the  myrrh, 
is  in  this  instance,  denotes  the  ultimate  effect  of  the  union 
and  activity  of  the  prior  two.  Myrrh,  also,  was  one  of 
the  ingredients  of  the  holy  oil  with  which  all  the  persons 
and  vessels  employed  in  the  tabernacle-service  wei'e  to  be 
anointed  :§  by  which  oil  was  signified  good  of  all  orders 
and  degrees,  beginning  from  the  most  common  or  lowest, 

•  Exod.  XXX.  M.  t  Lpv.  ii.  1,  2,  15,  16.  J  Ch    xxiv.  7. 

^    Exod.  XXX   23,  24,  2n. 

18 


138  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

represented  by  the  myrrh,  which  is  therefore  mentioned 
in  the  first  place,  (the  ascending  series  being  that  which  is 
here  adopted,)  and  rising  to  the  purest  and  most  exalted, 
represented  by  the  pure  olive  oil,  which  is  mentioned  the 
last.  That  the  ointment  thus  compounded  was  intended 
to  be  a  type  of  love  and  charity,  with  their  uniting  ten- 
dency and  all  their  beneficial  operations,  may  be  gathered 
from  the  manner  in  which  it  is  mentioned  by  David  : 
"  Behold,  how  good  and  pleasant  a  thing  it  is,  for  brethren 
to  dwell  together  in  unity  !  It  is  like  the  precious  ointment  upon 
the  head,  that  ran  down  upon  the  beard,  even  Aaron's 
beard  ;  that  went  down  to  the  skirts  of  his  garments."* 
The  introduction  here,  by  the  inspired  writer,  of  the 
"  precious  ointment,"  would  only  make  a  simile  without 
resemblance,  if  there  were  not  an  analogy  between  its  na- 
ture and  that  of  the  virtue  whose  praise  he  celebrates. 

Now  it  may  fairly  be  inferred,  that  the  wise  men  would 
not  have  "  worshipped"  "  the  young  child"  by  these  natu- 
ral emblems,  so  exactly  typifying  tlie  spiritual  worship 
due  to  that  Divine  Nature  which  was  assuming  this  mode 
of  manifesting  itself  to  the  world,  had  they  not  been  ap- 
prized, to  some  extent,  of  the  analogy  between  things  natu- 
ral and  things  spiritual.  Nothing  but  this  could  have  dic- 
tated the  performance  of  acts  so  significant  and  appropri- 
ate. Without  such  a  guide,  they  might,  certainly,  have 
brought  presents,  in  token  of  respect  :  but  it  must  have 
been  by  a  rare  chance  indeed  that  they  could  have  fixed 
upon  articles  so  exactly  symbolic  of  the  sentiments  proper 
to  the  occasion. 

2.  But  if  we  were  to  turn  to  the  writings  and  other  mo- 
numents yet  extant  of  profane  antiquity,  we  should  find 
proofs  multiplying  all  round  us,  to  evince,  that  in  very 
ancient  times  the  knowledge  of  the  Relation  between 
things  spiritual  and  things  natural  was  very  much  culti- 

*  Ps.  cxxxiii   1,  2. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  139 

vated  indeed  :   in  fact,  we  should  see  reason  to  conclude, 
that  the  ancients  knew  of  no  other  way  of  express-ing  their 
conceptions  respecting  spiritual  and  heavenly  subjects,  but 
by  clothing  them  with  images  drawn  from  natural  objects. 
Who,  for  instance,  can  doubt,  tliat  the  fables  of  tlieir  My- 
thology were  all  originally  framed  upon  this  principle  ? 
These  fables  have  been  handed  down  to  us  with  many  mu- 
tilations, additions,  and  other  depravations,  being  now  on- 
ly found  in  the  writings  of  authors  who  did  not  understand 
them,  and  who  had  leceived  them  from  traditionary  relat- 
ers,  of  whom,  likewise,  many  were  ignorant  of  their  mean- 
ing, and  frequently  confounded  different  things  together  : 
yet  many   of  these  ffibles  still  exhibit  marks  which  evince, 
that  their  first  authors  composed  them  by  the  aid  of  a  cor- 
rect knowledge  of  the  spiritual  and  moral  analogy  of  natu- 
ral things,  and  designed  them  to  convey  lessons  of  interior, 
wisdom.     Thus,  though  some  of  the  heathen  deities  might 
be  no  more  than  deified  men, — persons  who,  while  they 
lived,  had  been  benefactors  to  their  species  ;   (in  which 
light  some  of  the  later  ancients,  and  many  of  the  moderns, 
have  chosen  to  consider  them  all  ;)   yet   how  much   more 
reasonable  is  the   opinion  of  the  wiser  ancients,  followed 
likewise  by  many  of  the  moderns,  that  the  personifications 
of  the  Grecian  mythology  were  only  designed  to  represent 
the  distinct   attributes   of  the  One  Infinite  God,  and  were 
not  intended  to  be  considered  as  existing   in   separate  per- 
sonal forms,   but  had  such  forms  assigned  them  merely  to 
render  the  contemplation  of  the  various  divine  perfections 
more  easy  to  the  human  understanding;  whilst  the  regard- 
ing of  them  as  so  many  separate  gods,  and  the  worshipping 
of  them  as  such,  were  innovations  of  the  ignorant  vulgar, — 
exactly  of  the  same  nature   as  that   which  has  been  intro- 
duced by  some  of  the  moderns,  in   making  a  complete  se- 
paration of  the  persons  of  the  Christian  Trinity.     We  will 
endeavour  to  sketch  an  idea  of  some  of  the  leading  charac- 


140  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

ters  of  this  mythology,  and  of  the  design  of  a  few  of  its 
principal  fables. 

It  is  a  fact  which  will  readily  be  admitted,  that  the  Di- 
vine Being  is  regarded  and  worshipped,  by  all  mankind, 
through  the  medium  of  the  conceptions  which  they  have 
formed  of  him  in  their  own  minds,  and  that  none  are  able 
to  conceive  an  idea  of  him  that  is  at  all  adequate  to  what  he 
is  in  Himself,  since  it  is  impossible  for  a  finite  being  to  com- 
prehend the  Infinite:  hence  the  idea  of  God  cannot  be  exact- 
ly the  same  in  any  two  minds;  and  in  persons  of  very  dissi- 
milar religious  sentiments  it  must  be  very  different  indeed. 
Now  it  appears  to  have  been  the  custom  among  the  ancients, 
when  a  very  great  change  took  place  in  men's  modes  of  con- 
ceiving of  the  Deity,  to  assign  to  him  a  different  name:  the 
propriety  of  which  practice  seems  to  be  recognized  in  the 
Scriptures,  where  we  find  the  Lord  saying  to  Moses,  when 
about  to  communicate  a  new  revelation  different  from  that 
which  had  existed  before,  "  I  appeared  unto  Abraham,  un- 
to Isaac,  and  unto  Jacob,  by  the  name  of  God  Jllmighty, 
but  by  my  name  Jehovah  was  I  not  known  to  them."*  Thus 
we  are  not  to  conclude  that  the  wiser  ancients  regarded 
their  supreme  god,  Jupiter,  as  a  different  divine  being  from 
the  older  supreme  god,  Saturn  ;  but  that  under  those  dis- 
tinct names,  to  each  of  which  they  assigned  distinct  attri- 
butes, they  personified  the  different  ideas  of  the  Supreme 
Being  entertained  by  two  very  different  generations  of 
mankind, — by  men  of  such  essentially  distinct  genius  and 
character  as  those  may  well  be  conceived  to  have  been, 
who  lived  before,  and  who  lived  after,  the  Scriptural  ca- 
tastrophe of  the  flood.  And  as  the  latter  race  of  men  were 
descended  from  the  former,  and  their  idea  of  God  sprung 
out  of  that  which  had  been  conceived  by  the  previous  ge- 
neration,— was,  in  fact,  the  offspring  of  it, — they  transfer- 
red this  idea  to  the  deities  themselves,  and  described  Jupi- 

*  Exod.  vi.  3. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  141 

ter  as  the  son  of  Saturn  :  for  which  also  there  was  a  fur- 
ther reason,  to  which  we  shall  presently  advert. 

But  the  occasion  on  which  Jupiter  is  fabled  to  have  suc- 
ceeded to  the  throne  of  heaven,  was  this:  a  war  was  wajied 
against  Saturn  by  the  first  race  of  giants,  called  the  Ti- 
tans,— evidently  the  "  Nepiiiliin"  of  the  Scriptures,* — 
who,  it  is  pretended,  would  have  succeeded  in  their  enter- 
prise, had  not  Jupiter  flown  to  the  assistance  of  his  fatlier, 
and  discomfited  the  enemy  with  his  thunderbolts  ;  after 
which,  like  many  other  auxiliaries  of  distres^ed  sovereigns, 
he  seized  the  reigns  of  o;overnment  for  himself.  Now  if 
we  conceive  Saturn  to  be  a  personified  idea  of  the  Divine 
Being  more  in  regard  to  that  pure  goodness,  which,  the 
poets  assure  us,  prevailed  under  his  dominion  among  man- 
kind, when 

Sine  militis  usu 
Mollia  secures  peragebant  otia  gcntes, 

and  which  procured  for  the  Saturnia  regna,  in  the  language 
of  analogy,  the  expressive  synonyme  of  "  the  golden  age," 
(though  the  use  of  that  metal  was  then  unknown  ; — ac- 
cording to  the  poet,  not  yet  itum  est  in  viscera  terrce^  nor  yet 
ferro  nocentius  aurum  Prodierat ;) — if  we  regard  the  Titans 
as  the  direful  perversions  of  such  a  state — the  lust  of  em- 
pire and  pride  of  self-exaltation  most  opposite  to  inoffen- 
sive benevolence  ; — if  we  see  in  Jupiter  a  personification 
of  the  Divine  Being  more  in  regard  to  that  other  great  es- 
sential property  of  Deity,  pure  Truth,  which  is  the  agent 
in  every  divine  work  of  judgment  and  of  restoration,  and 
of  the  manifestation  or  revelation  of  which,  thunder,  often 
deemed  by  the  vulgar  the  voice  of  God,  and  lightning,  the 
sudden  irradiations  of  which  have  such  an  awakening  ef- 
fect, are  natural  images; — and  if  we  conceive  further,  what 
was  clearly  the  fact,  that  the  character  of  the  people  who 
lived  after  the   flood  was  less  afliectionate  and  more  intel- 

*  In  the  original  of  Gen.  vi.  4.     The  laterracesof  giants  are  called  Ecphuim. 


142  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OP 

lectual  than  before, — that  sciences,  distinct  from  the  intui- 
tive perceptions  inherent  in  the  love  of  exalted  goodness, 
then  first  began  to  be  cultivated, — thus,  that  the  altered 
genius  of  mankind  led  them  to  view  the  Divine  Being 
more  in  his  character  of  pure  but  benignant  Truth,  than 
of  simple  unmixed  Goodness, — or  as  a  Jupiter  rather  than 
a  Saturn  ; — whence,  also,  with  the  reign  of  Jupiter  com- 
menced the  silver  age, — silver  being,  among  metals,  the 
symbol  of  pure,  interior  truth,  as  gold  is  that  of  pure,  ex- 
alted goodness  : — If,  I  say,  w^e  accept  these  views,  we  at 
least  shall  have  a  theory  which  well  agrees  with  the  facts, 
as  established  by  high  authority,  and  which  affords, — may 
I  be  allowed  to  say  ? — a  beautiful  solution  of  the  circum- 
stances of  the  fable. 

Nor  does  the  fiction,  that  it  was  the  practice  of  Saturn 
always  to  devour  his  offspring,  detract  from  the  character 
here  given  him,  as  the  personification  of  unmixed  good- 
ness :  for  children,  in  the  language  of  analogy,  viewed  in 
relation  to  their  father,  are  as  the  perceptions  and  thoughts 
of  the  intellect  in  relation  to  the  love,  affection,  or  desire, 
which  gives  them  birth.  Every  one  wdio  reflects  on  the  ope- 
rations of  his  own  mind,  must  see,  that  thought,  the  object 
of  which  is  truth,  or  what  is  esteemed  to  be  truth,  is  entirely 
the  offspring  of  affection.  Take  away  all  affection, — reduce 
the  mind  to  a  state  of  perfect  apathy, — and  you  will  imme- 
diately cease  to  think  :  on  the  contrary,  when  any  affection 
is  in  high  excitement,  how  active  are  the  thoughts  !  what 
a  tumult  of  ideas, — what  multitudes  of  reasonings,  crowd 
into  the  intellect,  when  violent  passions  agitate  the  will  ! 
It  is  in  agreement,  then,  with  true  philosophy,  to  regard 
Truth  as  the  offspring  of  Goodness,  this  being  essentially 
Love,  to  some  species  of  which  all  the  affections  belong  : 
whence  we  see  the  further  reason,  alluded  to  above,  for 
considering  Jupiter,  who  was  the  personification  of  the 
Divine  Being  in  respect  more  to  his  essential  attribute  of 
Truth  than  of  Goodness,  as  the  son   of  Saturn,   who  was 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    SlC.  143 

the  personification  of  the  Divine  Being  in  respect  more  to 
his  essential  attribute  of  Goodness  than  of  Truth.  We  are 
not  however  to  suppose  that  the  people  of  the  golden  age 
regarded  by  the  Divine  Being  as  Goodness  or  Love  alone, 
without  Truth  or  Wisdom,  nor  that  the  silver  age  regarded 
him  as  Truth  or  Wisdom  alone  without  Goodness  or 
Love  :  the  former  worshipped  him  as  Divine  Goodness 
from  which  proceeds  Divine  Truth,  and  the  latter  as  Di- 
vine Truth  within  which  is  Divine  Goodness.  Now  it 
was  contrary  to  the  peculiar  genius  of  the  people  of  those 
primeval  times,  to  be  willing  to  contemplate  any  thing  of 
mere  intellect  separate  from  its  parent  affection  :  to  do  so 
they  would  have  considered  as  an  awful  lapse  from  the 
perfection  of  the  human  character  :  they  viewed  all  truth 
as  inherent  in  its  parent  affection,  and,  though  continually 
produced  by  it,  continually  resolving  itself  into  it.  In 
agreement  with  this  sentiment,  the  preservation  of  Jupiter 
and  his  brothers  is  fabled  to  have  been  effected  by  the  ar- 
tifice of  his  mother  Rhea — the  earth, — which  is  a  term  used 
in  the  language  of  analogy,  for  that  which,  in  the  language 
of  theology,  is  called  the  external  man  :  it  is  by  inclining 
to  the  external  that  intermediate  spiritual  births  are  pro- 
duced by  the  internal,  and  it  is  by  the  suggestions  of  the 
external,  or  by  acceding  to  its  inclinations,  that  they  are 
viewed  as  altogether  separate.  The  artifice,  too,  by 
which  Saturn  was  deceived  by  Rhea,  was,  her  giving  him 
a  stone  to  swallow  instead  of  his  son  ; — a  monstrous  ab- 
surdity, if  any  thing  like  a  literal  history  be  supposed  to 
be  intended,  but  a  beautiful  combination  of  the  analogies 
of  different  orders  of  existences,  if  the  involved  mystery 
be  regarded.  For  a  stone,  among  itianimate  things  of  the 
lowest  order,  belongs  to  the  same  general  analogies  as  a  son 
does  among  the  highest  :  both  are  types  of  the  objects  of 
intellect  ;  a  stone  being  a  symbol  of  truth  in  its  lowest 
sphere,  when  clothed  with  appearances  taken  from  the 
world  of  nature,  and  a  son  beinff  a  symbol  of  truth  when 


144  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

living  in  the  perceptions  of  the  human  mind.  Now  that, 
in  this  sense,  strange  as  it  may  sound,  stones  were  swallow- 
ed by  the  primeval  inhabitants  of  the  world,  cannot  be 
doubted,  if  we  believe,  as  is  highly  reasonable,  first,  that 
there  is  such  a  mutual  relation  between  natural  things  and 
spiritual,  that  the  latter  are  reflected  by  all  the  objects  of 
creation  ;  secondly,  that  this  analogy  was  intuitively  ap- 
prehended by  those  ancients,  so  that,  to  them,  every  thing 
in  nature  conveyed  a  spiritual  idea,  and,  by  them,  "  the 
invisible  things  of  God  were  clearly  seen  in  the  things  that 
are  made  ;"  and,  lastly,  that  the  exalted  affection  for  good- 
ness in  which  they  were  principled,  beholding  in  terres- 
trial objects  nothing  but  images  of  heavenly  ones,  eagerly 
seized  the  ideas  thus  presented,  and  incorporated  them 
with  itself.  Hence,  as  they  viewed  God  through  the  me- 
dium of  the  conceptions  of  their  own  minds,  so  that  their 
Supreme  Deity  may  be  considered,  as  noticed  above  in  the 
case  of  the  idol  Dagon,  as  the  personified  abstraction  of 
their  leading  religious  sentiments,  they  depicted  Saturn  as 
the  devourer  of  his  children,  or  of  stones  in  their  stead. 

And  here  be  it  observed,  that  such  a  mode  of  represent- 
ing spiritual  subjects,  so  long  as  it  was  understood,  must 
have  been  equally  delightful  and  instructive  :  but  in  the 
degenerate  times  that  succeeded  ; — to  speak  in  their  own 
language, — in  the  copper  age,  when  men  regarded  only 
external  goodness,  cultivating  merely  natural  affections, — and 
still  more  in  the  iron  age,  when  they  took  their  character 
from  a  merely  external  understanding,  and  no  longer  had 
spiritual,  but  only  natural  conceptions  of  truth  ; — such  re- 
presentations became  liable  to  great  abuse.  Then,  under- 
standing literally  this,  so  understood,  flagitious  practice 
of  Saturn,  and  the  similar  deeds  of  their  other  divinities, 
they  changed  the  whole  into  a  system  of  abomination  and 
impurity,  never  dreamed  of  by  its  inventors  ;  and  villainy 
pretended  to  perpetrate  its  crimes  under  the  express  sanc- 
tion of  the  ffods. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &,C.  145 

But  to  return.  We  have  selected  the  above  fables  for 
llbistration,  as  being  fundamental  ones,  on  which  the 
whole  of  the  Greek  mythology  turns  :  otiierwise,  some  of 
the  others  would  perhaps  admit  of  a  more  familiar  expla- 
nation. Wlien,  for  instance,  a  second  race  of  giants  is 
fabled  to  have  made  a  second  insurrection,  and  to  have 
heaped  mountain  upon  mountain  to  scale  the  walls  of 
heaven,  (an  occurrence  which  is  described  in  Scripture  by 
the  parallel  sclieme  of  building  "  atower  whose  top  should 
reach  unto  heaven  ;''*)  and  when  the  gods  are  said,  in 
fear,  to  have  fled  for  refuge  to  Egypt,  and  there  to  have 
disguised  themselves  by  taking  the  forms  of  various  ani- 
mals, Jupiter  assuming  the  figure  of  a  ram,  Juno  that  of  a 
white  cow,  and  the  like  ; — how  aptly  may  we  see  describ- 
ed the  desolation,  through  the  prevalence  of  extravagant 
lusts  and  wild  phantasies,  of  all  that  constitutes  real  reli- 
gion, until  all  true  knowledge  of  the  divine  nature  and 
attributes  is  banished,  the  graces  of  the  truly  spiritual  man 
are  no  more,  and  nothing  of  them  is  left  but  some  good 
affections  (represented  by  the  animals  in  which  tiie  deities 
lurked,)  in  the  natural  man,  which  in  this  fable,  as  in  the 
Scriptures,  is  typified  by  Egypt  !  On  this  occasion,  also, 
it  was  oracularly  pronounced,  that  the  gods  must  finally 
be  vanquished,  unless  they  called  a  mortal  to  their  aid  : 
where  again  we  see  a  proof,  that  by  their  gods  they  did 
not  strictly  understand  the  Deity  as  he  is  in  Himself,  but 
as  he  is  received,  and  as  ideas  are  formed  of  him,  in  the 
human  mind  :  for  none  could  imagine  that  any  insurrec- 
tion from  hell  could  injure  the  Deity  Himself,  though  it 
might  abolish  the  graces  of  which  he  is  the  author  from 
the  mind  of  man.  The  fable  adds,  that  in  compliance  with 
the  oracle,  the  gods  availed  themselves  of  the  assistance 
of  Hercules,  the  son  of  Jupiter  by  a  human  mother,  by 
whose  help  they  regained  Olympus  :  in  wdiich,   I  think, 

*  Gen.  xi.  i. 

19 


146  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

the  serious  Christian  must  discover,  whatever  the  infidel 
may  think  of  it,  a  knowledge  among  the  gentiles  of  that 
genuine  oracular  declaration  which  !?aid,  that  the  seed  of 
the  woman  should  hruise  the  serpent's  head.  Indeed,  the 
whole  history  of  Hercules  and  his  labours  evinces,  that 
they  who  constructed  it,  had  a  knowledge  of  the  Redeem- 
er who  was  to  come,  and  of  the  redemption  which  was  to 
be  wrought  by  the  Incarnate  God,  who,  "  having  spoiled 
principalities  and  powers,"*  and  "  destroyed  him  that  had 
the  power  of  death"t  was  to  be  made  "  perfect  through 
sufferings,"!  "  crowned  with  glory  and  honour  :"§  Avhich 
truths  they  involved  in  their  customary  style  of  fable,  fill- 
ed with  circumstances  drawn  from  the  language  of  spirit- 
ual analogy. 

Once  more.  If  we  were  apprized  that,  in  its  spiritual 
reference,  that  common  Scripture  emblem,  the  horse^  ex- 
presses the  understanding  or  apprehension  of  Truths — whence 
four  horses  appeared,  in  the  Revelation,  to  proceed  out  oj  a 
feoo/cll  nl  OJ  another  was  seen  riding  in  heaven  He 
whose  "  name  is  called  The  Word  of  God^''''^ — we  should 
pe  ceive  the  reason  why  horses  were  assigned  to  JVeptiine^ 
the  go:l  of  the  ocean,  or  of  the  waters,  though  they  seem  so 
little  adapted  to  that  element  : — why  a  chariot  and  horses 
of  fire  were  attributed  to  the  sun,  the  source  of  light,  or 
to  P.ia:bus,  th2  god  of  day  : — why  the  fountain  of  Hippo- 
crene,  in  Mjunt  Parnassus,  the  haunt  of  the  nine  JSIuses, 
or  the  sciences,  who  were  ths  daughters  of  Jupiter  and 
Memory,  was  said  to  have  been  opened  by  a  blow  from  the 
hoof  of  the  wanged  horse,  Pegasus : — why  all  the  principal 
heroes  and  demi-gods  were  represented  to  have  received 
their  institution  in  learning  fiom  the  Centaurs,  an  imaginary 
race  compounded  of  the  man  and  the  horse  ;  who  also 
were  famous  for  thoir  skill  in  medicine,  and  instructed  in 


*  Ck)l.  ii.  15.     i  Hob.  ii.  14.     }  Ver.  10.     §   Ver.  9.      ||  Ch.  vi.  1,  4,  5,  8. 
V  Ch.  xix.  11,  13. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    SlC.  147 

that  art  the  god  of  medicine,  ^sculapius  himself  : — why 
the  device,  whatever  it  was,  by  which  the  Grecian  com- 
manders introduced  a  body  of  troops  within  the  walls  of 
Troy,  was  symbolized  by  a  wooden  horse  : — and  why,  on 
the  founding  of  Athens,  that  celebrated  seat  of  science  and 
philosophy,  when  Minerva  and  Neptune  were  contending 
for  the  honour  of  giving  it  a  name,  Neptune,  to  display 
his  power,  is  said  to  have  struck  the  ground  with  his  tri- 
dent, when  there  instantly  darted  forth  a  horse  ;  yet  the 
disputed  honour  was  awarded  to  Minerva,  at  whose  bid- 
ding there  sprung  up  an  olive-tree  ; — a  fahle  which  beau- 
tifully represents  th;  superiority  of  that  WISDOM  figured 
by  the  goddess,  which  regards  the  conduct  of  life,  and 
leads  to  the  feeling  of  benevclence  terminating  in  works  of 
utility, — of  which  sentiment  the  olive-tree  is  the  symbol, — 
over  those  mere  accumulations  of  knowledge  typified 
by  the  waters  of  the  ocean,  and  having  a  personified  ab- 
stract in  Neptune  ;  these  only  enabling  their  possessor  to 
dazzle  by  intellectual  display,  or  to  overwhelm  by  ratiocination  ; 
— of  which  exercises  the  war-horse  is  so  expressive  an 
e.i  blem. 

The  brevity  to  Avhich  these  explanations  have  been 
necessarily  confined,  may  perhaps  have  been  such  as  to 
prevent  their  truth  from  being  fully  perceived  : — there  is 
als  y  much  difficulty  in  conveying  by  abstract  expressions 
the  exact  ideas  intended  ;  in  which  respect,  as  intimated 
above,  the  languags  of  analogy,  wlien  once  luiderstood, 
has  an  immense  superiority  : — but  surely  no  one  can 
doubt,  that  these  fables  were  all  intended  by  their  authors 
to  have  a  specific  meaning.  There  is  an  evident  uniformi- 
ty in  th^ir  construction.  They  are  all  compounded  of 
personified  abstractions,  and  of  material  images  taken  from 
actually  existing  objects  ;  and  it  is  plain  that,  by  the  ma- 
terial Images  applied,  material  things  are  not  intended, 
but  that  they  are  used  as  symbols,  according  to  some  regu- 
lar principle,   founded   in  a  similitude  observed  by  the 


143 


PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 


composers  between  the  images  employed  and  certain  mo- 
ral or  spiritual  things  intended  to  be  expressed  :  And  what 
can  this  regular  principle  be,  and  what  the  similitude  ob- 
served, but  such  a  Mutual  Relation,  or  Relation  of  Analo- 
gy, between  natural  things  and  spiritual,  as  renders  the 
former  expressive  mediums  for  conveying  to  the  nmind 
ideas  of  the  latter  ?  Altogether,  I  think  it  certain,  that 
no  one  can  examine  the  fables  of  the  Greek  mythology, 
with  a  view  to  this  inquiry,  without  being  satisfied,  that 
such  an  immutable  Relation  between  the  different  orders 
of  existences  does  prevail,  and  that  when  those  fables  were 
composed  it  must  have  been  well  understood. 

The  same  observation  may  be  extended  to  the  Asiatic 
mythologies,  since  the  affinity  between  these  and  the  Gre- 
cian is  well  known,  and  modern  researches  have  even  dis- 
covered, on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  some  of  the  imagi- 
nary deities  so  long  since  banished  from  the  rest  of  the 
world.  Since  the  acquisition,  by  this  country,  of  such 
extensive  possessions  in  India,  the  attention  of  the  learned 
has  been  much  directed  to  the  sacred  books  and  traditions 
of  that  very  ancient  nation  ;  and  here,  still  more  than  in 
the  mythological  tales  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  astonishment 
has  been  excited  by  the  marvellous  character  of  the  rela- 
tions wliich  compose  their  records.  But  little  certain 
knowledge  has  yet  been  developed  by  the  illustrious  scho- 
lars who  have  endeavoured  to  open  this  rich  mine  of  sci- 
ence :  the  reason  is,  because  they  have  chiefly  sought,  in 
the  extraordinary  narratives  which  they  have  studied,  for 
information  on  questions  of  ancient  history,  geography, 
and  chronology  ;  whereas,  vA\en  the  traditions  of  the 
highest  antiquity  appear  to  treat  of  such  matters,  it  is  only 
for  the  sake  of  making  them  the  vehicles  of  information 
respecting  higher  subjects.  To  decypher  such  composi- 
tions, the  science  of  Analogies  will  be  found  to  be  the  mas- 
ter-key. As  nothing  but  this  will  satisfactorily  explain  the 
mythological  fables  of  the  Greeks  ;  so  likewise  must  our 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  149 

Orientalists  avail  themselves  of  this,  before  tliey  will  be 
able  to  unfold  the  kindred  theogonics  of  tlie  Hindoos  ;  for 
it  evidently  was  by  persons  skilled  in  this  science,  that 
these,  also,  were  composed. 

Nor  is  the  once  famous  country  of  Egypt  to  be  by  any 
means  excluded  from  this  enumeration  of  tlie  ancient  cul- 
tivators of  this  study  :  on  the  contrary,  could  all  written 
and  traditionary  learning  be  extirpated  from  the  earth, 
Egypt  would  still  present  her  imperishable  monuments, 
silently  but  irrefutably  proclaiming,  that  there,  indeed, 
the  Relation  of  Analogy  between  the  various  kingdoms  of 
nature,  with  their  individual  objects,  and  each  otlier  ;  and 
between  all  of  these,  again,  and  things  moral,  spiiitual, 
and  divine  ;  was  once — yea,  for  ages, — well  understood  ; 
that  there  it  stamped  a  character  upon  all  elevated  science, 
and  that  it  reaulated  there  even  the  first  elements  of  know- 
ledge.  What  can  be  more  evident  than  that  her  celebrat- 
ed Hieroglyphics,  which  have  so  long  confoimded  the 
skill  of  the  learned,  are  built  on  this  Analogy,  and  are  ex- 
pressions of  it,  and  that,  if  ever  they  are  decyphered,  it 
must  be  by  its  means  ?  Who  could  inspect  that  extraordi- 
nary exhibition,  a  year  or  two  since  open  in  London,  re- 
presenting the  tomb  of  an  Egyptian  king,  explored  by  Mr. 
Belzoni,  and  behold  the  multitude  of  representations  of 
natural  objects,  evidently  designed  to  convey  a  mystical 
meaning,  without  feeling  satisfied  that  the  arrangement  of 
tliem  must  be  governed  by  some  Rule,  and  that  it  assumed 
for  its  basis  a  known  Analogy  ?  Who  can  escape  the  same 
impressions  on  viewing  the  Egyptian  antiquities  in  the 
British  Museum  ?  To  particularize  only  one  palpable  em- 
blem, the  meaning  of  which  requires  no  discussion  to 
establish  it  :  Who  can  beliold  those  monstrous ^jf^s-,  carved 
out  of  the  hardest  of  rocks-,  without  being  convinced  that 
they  were  designed  to  symbolize  tliat  irresistible  pouer  that 
could  crush  opposers  into  annihilation  ?  that  their  mean- 
ing is  similar  to  that  of   the  done  mentioned  in  the  gospel, 


150  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

of  which  it  is  said,  that  "  on  whomsoever  it  shall  fall,  it 
will  grind  him  to  poioder  V*  So  it  is  evident  tiiat  in  the 
wonderfid  scheme  of  symbolic  writins  contrived  bv  this 
singular  peo[)le,  the  natural  objects  depitted  were  put  to 
convey  ideas  quite  distinct  from  any  thing  immediately 
belonging  to  the  objects  themselves  :  they  delineated  one 
thing  to  exj)reis  another  :  they  evidently  were  guided  by 
some  Analogy  which  they  saw  between  the  two  :  and  it  is 
much  more  reasonable  to  conclude  that  they  followed  a 
prin(i})ie  known  by  them  to  exist  in  the  nature  of  things, 
than  that  the  whole  of  so  complicated  a  systetn  was  merely 
founded  in  arbitrary  assumption. 

From  the  whole  of  this  branch  of  our  investigation, 
then,  these  conclusions  appear  to  be  certain  :  That  among 
all  the  celebrated  nations  of  antiquity,  the  knowledge  of  a 
Mutual  Relation,  regarded  as  real,  between  the  different 
orders  of  existences  in  the  universe,  once  was  general  : 
tliat  it  formed  the  peculiar  learning  of  the  priests,  and  was 
studied  by  all  who  aspired  to  the  distinction  of  erudition. 

V.  The  final  conclusion  intended  to  be  deduced  by  the 
help  of  what  has  been  advanced  in  this  Lecture,  is,  that 
in  the  Relation  of  Analogy  between  things  natural  and 
things  spiritual,  (which  we  may  now,  it  is  hoped,  consider 
as  established,)  is  to  be  found  the  Law  or  Rule  according 
to  which  the  Scriptures  are  written,  and  that  a  knowledge 
of  it  will  afford  the  key  by  which  their  "  dark  sayings" 
must  be  decyphered.  At  least,  sufficient  reason  has  per- 
haps been  shewn,  to  make  it  highly  probable  that  such  is 
the  fact,  and  to  entitle  the  application  of  the  system  of  in- 
terpretation proposed,  to  a  very  attentive  examination  ; 
and  this  probability,  and  claim  to  examination,  are  greatly 
strengthened,  when  it  is  considered,  that  the  early  part  of 
the  Scriptures  was  written,  whilst  this  Relation  was  culti- 

'  Matt.  xxi.  44. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  151 

vated  among  many  nations  as  a  science,  and  the  latter  part 
before  the  knowledge  of  it  was  every  where  quite  extinct  ; 
which  alone  affords  some  presuni[)tion,  conjointly  with 
the  extraordinary  character  of  their  style,  that  tiiey  are 
composed  according  to  it.  But  to  establish  this  conclu- 
sion by  a  wider  induction  will  be  the  object  of  the  two 
next  Lectures. 

Now  as  it  has,  I  trust,  been  solidly  evinced,  tliat  the 
Relation  of  Analogy  between  the  different  orders  of  exist- 
ences is  iireversibly  founded  in  the  very  nature  of  things, 
and  may  even  be  considered  as  one  of  the  most  funda- 
mental laws  of  Nature  ;  and  not  only  so,  but  that  there  is 
a  tendency  to  express  ourselves  according  to  it  in  common 
speech  ;  this  must  shield  the  idea  of  applying  it  as  a  Rule 
for  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  from  the  imputa- 
tion of  fancifulness:  and  as  it  has,  I  trust,  appeared  equally 
certain,  from  the  latter  part  of  this  Lecture,  that  this  Ana- 
logy was  in  ancient  times  well  understood,  and  that  many 
compositions  were  then  framed  by  its  laws;  this  must  vin- 
dicate the  principle  from  the  charge  of  novelty.  It  is  true 
that  this  science,  (for  such  it  may  justly  be  called,)  has 
been  lost  sight  of  for  many  ages  ;  that  though  mankind 
have  continued  to  behold  its  phaenomena,  they  have  neg- 
lected to  reflect  on  their  cause  :  but  it  is  equally  true  that 
for  a  still  longer  course  of  ages,  prior  to  this  interval  of 
oblivion, — from  Adam  himself  through  Noah  and  his  de- 
scendants,— it  was  generally  understood.  Sciences  of  a 
more  external  kind,  having  natural  things  alone  for  their 
objects,  have  since  been  cultivated  in  its  place  :  but  now, 
when  these  seem  to  have  arrived  almost  at  their  perfec- 
tion,— when  all  the  mysteries  that  Nature  conceals  in  her 
bosom  appear  nearly  to  have  been  opened  to  our  view  ; 
(as  to  their  general  branches,  we  mean, — for  new  particu- 
lars will  be  discoverable  to  eternity  ;)  it  surely  is  time  to 
turn   our   attention   to   a  science  which   connect^   natjiral 


152  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

knowledge  with  spiritual,  and  sheds  superior  light  on 
both.  In  the  first  ages,  interior  wisdom  was  cultivated, 
to  tlie  neglect  of  exterior  knowledge  :  in  later  ages,  exte- 
rior knowledge  has  been  pursued,  to  t!je  neglect  of  interi- 
or wisdom  :  in  future  ages,  doubtless,  they  will  be  united. 
The  advantages  of  this  union  Avill  be  great.  As  the  doc- 
trine of  Analogy  is  cultivated,  it  will  no  longer  be  the  re- 
proach, as  heretofore,  of  Science,  that  she  has  a  tendency 
to  lead  her  votaries  to  scepticism  in  regard  to  religion:  for 
natural  things  will  then  all  be  viewed  as  the  outbirths  of 
spiritual  essences,  and  so  to  be  connected  by  an  indissolu- 
ble tie  with  the  Great  Author  of  both,  the  Creator  and 
Preserver  of  all  things.  As,  at  the  same  time,  religion 
will  be  cleared  of  its  corruptions,  and  the  Bible,  under- 
stood by  the  aid  of  this  science,  will  no  longer  be  repre- 
sented as  sanctioning  doctrines  which  reason  condemns  ; 
that  enlargement  of  mind  which  knowledge  produces  will 
cease  to  become  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  most  cordial 
faith.  The  Science  of  Analogies,  by  unfolding  the  interi- 
or contents  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  and  explaining,  as  we 
shall  see  in  the  sequel,  all  those  appearances  that  seem  ei- 
ther trifling  or  contradictory,  will  reconcile  the  jarrings, 
so  long  thought  irreconcilable,  between  Reason  and  Reve- 
lation; just  as,  by  shewing  the  origin  and  spiritual  relation 
of  all  objects  in  nature,  it  will  conciliate  knowledge  with 
piety.  Every  friend,  then,  to  Revelation  and  to  Piety, — 
yea,  every  admirer  of  Reason  and  of  Knowledge,  is  deeply 
interested  in  the  restoration  of  this  Science  ;  and  both 
should  unite  to  bring  on  the  time,  when,  as  among  the  an- 
cients, the  highest  wisdom  shall  be  that  which  is  conver- 
sant with  spiritual  subjects,  and  the  first  of  sciences  that 
which  teaches  the  Relation  between  spiritual  subjects  and 
the  appearances  in  nature. 


LECTURE  IV. 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS,  EVINCING  THAT  THE  SCRIP- 
TURES ARE  WRITTEN  ACCORDING  TO  THE  LAW  OR  RULE 
DEVELOPED    IN    THE  LAST  LECTURE. 

I.  Of  the  Style  proper  to  a  Divine  Composition.  Such  a  Style 
afforded  by  the  Relation  of  Jlnalogy  bcliceen  natural  things 
and  spiritual,  as  explained  in  the  last  Lecture.  II.  That  if 
the  Scriptures  are  written  by  a  Plenary  Divine  Inspiration., 
they  must  be  composed  in  this  Style.  1 .  That  when  the  Di- 
vine Speech.,  or  the  Divine  Word,  ichich  is  the  same  thing  as 
the  Divine  Truth,  emanates  from  the  bosom  of  Deity  into  the 
circumference  of  creation,  or  into  the  world  of  nature,  it  there 
clothes  itself  xoith  images  taken  from  that  xoorld,  and  that  it 
cannot  otherwise  be  presented  to  mankind.  2.  Variety  of 
Phraseology  in  the  different  Inspired  Penmen  consistent  with 
Verbal  Inspiration.  3.  Plenary  Inspiration  necessarily  occa- 
sional, and  not  permanently  attendant  on  certain  Persons. 
III.  That  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  the  Divine  Truth  thus 
brought  intmUknatural  form  ;  and  that  therefore  their  interior 
meaning  can  only  be  understood  by  an  application  to  them  of 
the  Law  which  governs  the  Relation  between  natural  objects  and 
spiritual  and  divine  essences.  IV.  .Applicability  of  the  Rule 
to  the  Prophecies  of  the  Divine  Word.  1 .  Sentiments  of  Bib- 
lical Critics  on  the  Double  Sense  of  Prophecy.  2.  Rule  of 
.Analogical  Interpretation  adopted  by  Sir  Isaac  J\^eivton  and 
Bishop  Warburton.  3.  Defects  of  their  Rule,  and  the  neces- 
sity of  extending  it  further .  V.  Examples  of  the  light  which 
results  from  the  application  of  the  Rule  of  .Analogy  betu^een  na- 
30 


154  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

tural  thi7igs  and  spiritual  to  the  Prophetic  Writings. — In- 
stances selected  ;  1 .  EzekieVs  prophecy  of  a  great  sacrijice  up- 
on the  mountains  of  Israel.)  (Ezek.  xxxix.  17  to  20  ;)  2. 
The  Lord''s  prophecy  of  his  Second  Coming  in  the  clouds  of 
heaven,  (Matt.  xxiv.  29,  30  ;)  3.  John's  vision  of  spiritual 
Babylon,  (Rev.  xvii.  3  to  6.) 


I.  M.  HERE  cannot,  certainly,  be  a  more  interesting  and 
momentous  exercise  proposed  to  the  reflecting  mind,  than 
to  investigate  the  nature  of  that  speech  or  language  which 
God  uses,  or  might  be  expected  to  use,  in  communicating 
^  divinely  inspired  code  of  knowledge  on  heavenly  sub- 
jects. Nothing  can  be  more  agreeable  to  reason  than  to 
pre-suppose,  that  the  style  of  language  in  which  God 
speaks  to  man,  must  be  very  different  from  that  in  which 
men  generally  speak  to  each  other  ;  and  that  its  beauties 
and  excellences,  though  necessarily  of  the  most  transcend- 
ant  description,  must,  nevertheless,  be  quite  different  in 
their  kind,  from  those  which  adorn  the  best  human  com- 
positions. That  is  a  dictate  of  reason  as  well  as  of  revela- 
tion which  declares,  that  God's  thoughts  are  not  as  our 
thoughts,  nor  his  ways  as  our  ways.;*  and  also,  that  the 
things  most  highly  esteemed  among  men, — the  wisdom  of 
this  world, — may  be  mere  foolishness  in  the  sight  of  God.f 
Some  have  been  disgusted  with  the  Scriptures  of  Divine 
Truth,  and  have  thought  it  an  argument  Ipiinst  their  di- 
vine origin,  because  they  are  not  written  in  the  style  of 
the  orations  of  Demosthenes, — or  of  the  philosophical  dis- 
quisitions of  Plato  and  Aristotle, — or  of  the  legal  pandects 
of  Justinian  ; — because  they  do  not  display  the  tinsel  rhe- 
toric of  the  orator,  the  artificial  subtlety  of  the  dialecti- 
cian, or  the  systematic  arrangement  of  the  digester  of  a 
code  of  laws,  or  of  a  body  of  divinity.     Had  the  Scrip- 

»  Isa.  Iv.  8.  t  1  Cor.  iii.  19. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  165 

tares,  however,  been  composed  in  any  of  these  styles,  I 
suspect  that  they  would  not  have  been  deemed,  even  by 
the  same  parties,  a  whit  more  worthy  of  reception.  We 
should  then  have  been  told,  (and  with  more  reason  than 
accompanies  any  of  the  objections  made  to  them  as  they 
are,)  that  they  savoured  too  much  of  art  and  contrivance  ; 
— that  it  were  unworthy  of  the  Divine  Majesty  to  compete 
with  man  the  palm  of  elegance  or  ornament  of  style,  or  to 
be  bound  to  that  kind  of  order  which  is  necessary  to  the 
feebleness  of  human  intellect  ; — tliat  a  divine  composition 
might  naturally  be  expected  to  disregard  these  trifles,  and 
to  possess  a  style  peculiar  to  itself.  And  this  would  be  a 
just  statement  of  the  case.  If  the  thoughts  and  ways  of 
God  differ  from  ours,  it  undoubtedly  must  be,  by  their  in- 
finite superiority.  "  For  as  the  heavens  are  higher  than 
the  earth,  so  are  his  ways  higher  than  our  ways,  and  his 
thoughts  than  our  thoughts."* 

Now  it  is  the  chief  object  of  these  Lectures  to  shew,  that 
this  is  the  character  of  the  books  called  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures or  Word  of  God  ;  that  they  are  distinguished  from 
all  other  compositions  by  the  profoundness  of  their  mat- 
ter, and  by  the  depth  of  wisdom  with  which  they  are  in- 
wardly replete  ;  but  that  the  divine  style  of  writing  con- 
sists in  conveying  this  wisdom  with  the  utmost  fulness, 
and  in  the  most  uninterruptedly  coherent  series,  under  the 
veil  of  a  continued  chain  of  natural  images, — in  an  out- 
wardly simple  style  of  language,  borrowed  entirely  from 
the  appearances  that  exist  in  nature.  This  we  have  al- 
ready repeatedly  advanced  :  we  have  stated,  also,  that  the 
genuine  import  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  might  be  clearly 
ascertained,  and  the  whole  seen  to  be  worthy  of  a  Divine 
Origin,  were  it  generally  known  that  there  is  a  constant 
Relation  established  from  creation  between  moral,  intel- 
lectual, and  spiritual  essences,  and  physical,  sensible,  and 

-"  Isa.  Iv.  9. 


156  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

material  forms;  were  the  Law  which  governs  this  Relation 
distinctly  understood  ;  and  were  it  applied  to  the  decy- 
phering  of  the  symbolic  language,  of  which  the  letter  of 
the  Word  of  God  is  every  where  composed.  This  appli- 
cation then  we  are  to  make  in  this  Lecture  and  our  next, 
and  to  offer  Proofs  and  Illustrations,  to  evince,  that  the 
Scriptures  are  written,  throughout,  according  to  this  Law 
or  Rule. 

The  nature  of  this  Analogy,  and  of  the  Law  which  go- 
verns it,  we  endeavoured  to  investigate  in  our  last  Lecture: 
when  we  found  that  man  is  affirmed  by  the  Scriptures, 
(and  reason  cannot  dissent  from  the  discoveiy,)  to  be  cre- 
ated in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  : — wliich.  upon  the 
most  general  interpretation,  can  mean  no  less,  than  that  he 
is  provided  with  faculties  and  powers  for  receiving,  in  a 
finite  degree,  those  attributes  and  qualities  which  exist  in 
their  infinite  fulness  in  the  divine  nature.  Thus  the  high 
endowments  of  the  human  mind,  as  enjoyed  in  their  pri- 
mitive and  proper  state,  without  the  perversions  which 
evil  has  introdiued,  must  be  derivative  resemblances,  im- 
ages, and  types,  of  underived,  original,  real,  archetypes  in 
God.  But  we  have  seen,  likewise,  that  all  things  in  the 
human  body  are  images  and  types  of  certain  essences  and 
antitypes  which  exist  in  th.e  mind  ;  of  which  man  has  so 
clear  an  intuitive  perception,  that  he  often  uses,  in  com- 
mon discourse,  images  taken  from  the  organs  of  his  body, 
to  express  the  affections  and  other  properties  of  his  mind. 
And  we  have  seen  further,  that  as  man  is,  in  a  certain 
manner,  an  image  of  God,  so  all  tlie  inferior  parts  of  the 
creation  are,  in  a  certain  manner,  images  of  man,  and  thus 
are,  each  in  its  respective  station,  lower  types  of  certain 
antitypes  in  him.  Thus  we  have  found  by  various  exam- 
ples, (and  the  evidences  of  the  fact  might  be  multiplied  to 
such  an  extent,  as  to  render  negation  extremely  difficult,) 
that  all  things  in  nature,  being  outward  productions  from 
inward  essences,  are  natural,  sensible,  and  material  types, 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  167 

of  moral,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  antitypes,  and  finally 
of  their  prototypes  in  God.  We  have  seen  also,  that  were 
the  relation  between  natural  types  and  their  spiritual  anti- 
types in  all  cases  fully  known,  a  style  of  wiiting  might  be 
constructed,  in  which,  while  none  but  natural  images  were 
used,  purely  intellectual  ideas  should  be  most  fully  ex- 
pressed. That  such  a  style  of  composition  has  been  con- 
structed,— that  numerous  traces  of  it  still  exist,  and  that  in 
ancient  times  it  was  extensively  understood, — are  proposi- 
tions which  have  also,  I  trust,  been  satisfactorily  demon- 
strated. 

II.  The  existence  of  such  a  Relation  of  Analogy  being 
thus,  it  is  hoped,  clearly  established,  with  the  possibility 
of  a  style  of  writing  being  constructed  by  its  aid,  which 
would  be  singularly  adapted  for  giving  full  expression  to 
spiritual  and  divine  ideas  ;  the  question  now  before  us  is. 
Are  the  Scriptures  written  in  this  style  ?  The  answer 
must  be  in  the  affirmative,  if,  on  applying  this  principle  to 
the  decyphering  of  their  language,  we  find  that  we  every 
where  obtain  a  clear  interpretation,  consistent  with  itself, 
and  worthy  of  a  Divine  Author.  But,  in  agreement  with 
the  plan  which  we  have  pursued  in  our  former  Lectures,  we 
will  first  offer  some  remarks  to  shew,  that  if  the  Scri})tures 
really  are  the  productions  of  a  Divine  Author,  and  thus 
are  written  by  a  plenary  divine  inspiration,  they  must  be 
composed  in  this  style,  and  could  be  composed  in  no  other. 

1.  In  our  first  Lecture  we  endeavoured  to  evince,  that  a 
Composition  which  has  in  reality  God  for  its  author,  must^ 
as  to  its  contents,  be  infinite  and  divine,  exhibiting,  in  eve- 
ry page,  the  glories  of  eternal  wisdom  :  and  in  our  second 
Lecture  we  offered  arguments  to  prove,  that  this  must 
chiefly  be  treasured  in  an  internal  sense  distinct  from  that 
of  the  letter, — that  a  comj)osition  which  is  really  the  Word 
of  God,  as  the  Scriptures  assume  to  be,  must  contain  stores 


158  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

of  wisdom  in  its  bosom  independently  of  any  thing  that 
appears  upon  the  surface.  In  our  last,  whilst  we  endea- 
voured to  establish  the  certainty  of  there  being;  a  fixed  Re- 
lation  of  Analogy  between  things  natural,  spiritual,  and 
divine,  we  shewed,  that  the  ground  of  this  is,  because  the 
whole  Universe  is  actually  an  Outbirth  from  the  Deity, 
and  thence  must  bear,  in  all  its  parts,  an  immutable  Rela- 
tion to  the  attributes  and  essential  properties  of  the  Divine 
Nature.  Now,  I  think,  it  will,  upon  a  little  reflection, 
appear,  that  the  communication  of  a  Revelation  from  God 
to  man,  must  follow  the  same  general  law  as  that  which 
regulated  the  production  of  the  creation  ;  that  as,  in  the 
works  of  God,  spiritual  essences  gave  birth,  in  nature,  to 
material  objects,  so,  in  the  Word  of  God,  spiritual  ideas, 
to  become  perceptible  in  the  natural  world,  must  invest 
themselves  with  natural  expressions  composed  of  images 
taken  from  that  world  :  and  thus,  as  material  and  natural 
things  answer  to  moral,  spiritual,  and  divine  ones,  so  do 
the  literal  and  natural  expressions  of  Scripture  answer  to 
spiritual  and  divine  ideas.  As,  again,  the  objects  of  nature 
could  not  have  been  produced  by  the  Divine  Hand  inde- 
pendently of  any  connexion  with  spiritual  and  divine  es- 
sences; so  neither  could  a  composition  in  natural  language 
be  produced  by  the  Divine  Mind,  except  by  the  interven- 
tion of  spiritual  and  divine  ideas.  And  both  the  works 
and  AVord  of  God  having  such  an  origin,  must  be  connect- 
ed with  that  origin  by  a  determinate  Relation  of  Analogy; 
and  thus,  no  Composition  really  communicated  by  a  Ple- 
nary Divine  Inspiration,  can  be  written  in  any  style 
but  that  which  follows  the  Law  of  this  Relation.  We 
will  consider  this  a  little  further. 

(1.)  Wiien  the  Divine  Truth  proceeds  from  God  to  ir- 
radiate the  minds  of  all  intelligent  created  beings,  it  evi- 
dently must  proceed  according  to  the  same  order  as  that 
by  which  all  creation  itself  proceeded  from  Him.  What 
can  the  Divine  Truth  be  conceived  essentially  to  be,  but  a 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  159 

certain  spiritual  light,  wliich  communicates  perceptions  to 
the  minds  of  all  intelligent  creatures,  according  to  their 
respective  natures  and  capacities,  whether  they  be  adapted 
for  the  apprehension  of  much  truth  or  little  ?  just  as  natu- 
ral light,  to  which  we  have  seen  it  answers  by  anulogy, 
communicates  sensations  to  the  eye,  and  this  also  with 
much  variety,  according  to  the  structure  of  the  organ  ; 
thus  the  eagle  is  recreated  by  the  full  blaze  of  day,  whilst 
the  owl  is  reduced  by  it  to  a  state  of  torpor,  and  can  only 
enjoy  its  existence  in  the  obscure  gloom  of  night.  Neither 
the  spiritual  light  nor  the  natural  light  is  inherent  in  the 
objects  which  receive  it,  but  is  in  both  cases  imparted  from 
a  source  extraneous  to  them.  As  the  natural  light  is  not 
inherent  in  the  eye,  and  no  sensation  of  it  is  present  but 
when  it  flows  into  the  eye  from  a  luminous  body,  either 
immediately  or  by  reflection  ;  so  neither  is  spiritual  light 
inherent  in  the  understanding,  and  no  perception  of  truth 
can  be  enjoyed,  but  by  a  communication  from  the  Source 
of  Truth,  either  immediately  or  by  derivation. 

If  we  admit  there  to  be  angels  and  arch-angels  about  the 
throne  of  God,  they  doubtless  must  be  purely  spiritual 
beings,  all  whose  perceptions  must  be  of  the  most  purely 
spiritual  and  exalted  nature  ;  still,  even  such  beings  as 
these  must  be  merely  receptive  subjects,  destitute  of  the 
power  of  possessing  wisdoin  absolutely  as  their  own,  with- 
out a  continual  communication  from  the  Only  Fountain  of 
Wisdom  in  God  : — for  had  they  such  a  power,  they  would 
actually  be  Gods  themselves  : — consequently,  tlieir  per- 
ceptions of  wisdom  must  be  the  emanation  of  Divine 
Truth,  which  ever  flows  from  God,  like  spiritual  light 
from  a  spiritual  sun,  as  received  in  their  minds.  This  is  a 
distinction  necessary  to  be  regarded.  While  it  is  certain, 
that  no  created  being,  not  even  the  })ighest  and  most  dis- 
tinguished, can  enjoy  a  single  ray  of  Truth  which  is  not 
conveyed  to  him  from  its  Infinite  Fountaiii,  it  is  equally 
certain,  that  the  perceptions  of  truth  thus  existing  in  a 


160  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

finite  mind,  must  differ  immensely  from  the  Truth  itself, 
as  existing  in  its  Infinite  Original.  It  is  modified  by  the 
limited  capacities  of  the  receptive  mind,  and  by  its  descent 
into  a  lower  sphere.  Its  form  is  no  longer  the  same, 
though  one  that  answers  to  it  by  an  exact  analogy.  The 
pure  Divine  Truth  has  already  clothed  itself  with  a  veil, 
though  a  very  transparent  one,  taken  from  the  angelic  na- 
ture by  which  it  is  received  :  and  if  it  be  made  the  subject 
of  oral  enunciation,  the  language  for  expressing  it  must  be 
borrowed  from  the  ideas  of  the  angels,  and  from  the  ob- 
jects of  the  angelic  woild  ;  still,  the  purely  divine  ideas 
will  not  cease  to  exist  within.  So  it  is  with  natural  light. 
This  exists  in  its  purity  only  in  the  sun  ;  and  even  in  the 
objects  which  reflect  it  best  it  loses  much  of  its  brightness  ; 
and  it  assumes  a  boundless  variety  of  tints  of  colour  and 
degrees  of  shade,  all  borrowed  from  the  bodies  on  which 
it  falls  or  through  which  it  shines  :  yet  in  all  these  modi- 
fications the  light  itself  exists. 

But  we  know  well  that  the  divine  creative  operations 
have  not  been  confined  to  the  production  of  the  spiritual 
and  heavenly  worlds  :  natural  and  material  worlds  were 
formed  also  :  and  all  the  objects  that  exist  according  to 
order  in  the  natural  worlds,  are,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
still  outbirths  from  God  Himself;  deriving  their  being 
from  the  perfections  that  exist  in  the  divine  nature  ;  form- 
ing, in  the  lowest  sphere,  types  of  those  perfections  ;  and 
presenting,  in  fact,  a  divinely  constructed  mirror,  in  which 
spiritual  and  divine  things  may  be  seen  and  read.  Sup- 
pose then  a  sphere  or  emanation  of  Divine  Truth  to  flow 
forth  from  God,  and  not  to  stop  till  it  reach  the  lowest 
base  of  creation,  and  there  to  present  itself  in  natural  lan- 
guage ;  Of  what  might  that  language  be  expected  to  con- 
sist, but  of  images  taken  from  the  objects  that  appear  in 
nature,  and  from  the  common  modes  of  thinking  and  act- 
ing of  the  beings  whom  it  there  found  ?  As  Divine  Truth, 
if  enunciated  in  the  angelic  world,  must  take  its  expression 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  161 

from  the  ideas  of  the  angels  and  from  the  objects  of  their 
world  ;  so  must  it,  in  the  natural  world,  take  its  expression 
from  the  ideas  of  men,  and  from  the  objects  of  their 
world  ;  that  is,  from  such  ideas  as  the  objects  of  the  natu- 
ral world  would  suggest  to  its  inhabitants.  We  have  seen 
in  our  second  Lecture,  that  natural  language,  or  language 
such  as  is  spoken  by  the  inhabitants  of  a  natural  world, 
can  be  conceived  and  uttered  no  where  but  in  the  natural 
world  ; — just  as,  according  to  the  Apostle  Paul,  the  lan- 
guage of  angels  is  such  as  is  ineffable  to  man, — unspeaka- 
ble by  natural  organs  ;  and  it  was  this  language,  not  natu- 
ral speech,  which  he  heard,  when  he  was  transported  as 
to  his  spirit  into  angelic  society  :  Of  course,  should  the 
Divine  Being  give  a  revelation  of  his  Divine  Truth  to  men 
on  earth,  the  ideas  of  pure  divine  truth  could  not  present 
themselves  in  natural  language  till  they  had  descended  into 
the  natural  world  :  and  then  they  would  clothe  themselves 
in  language  drawn  from  the  appearances  that  exist  in  the 
natural  world  ;  which  they  might  conveniently  do,  be- 
cause all  natural  objects,  answering  by  an  immutable  rela- 
tion to  spiritual  and  divine  essences,  afford  suitable  images 
for  giving  them  expression.  Thus,  and  no  otherwise, 
could  a  book,  written  by  a  Plenary  Divine  Inspiration,  be 
given  to  man  :  if  then  the  Scriptures  are  such  a  book, 
they  must  be  composed  in  a  style  of  writing  constructed 
in  agreement  Avith  the  Relation  of  Analogy  established  by 
the  laws  of  creation  between  natural  things  and  spiritual. 

(2.)  We  have  seen  also,  when  speaking  of  this  style  of 
writing  in  our  last  Lecture,  that  it  is  capable  of  conveying 
spiritual  and  divine  ideas  with  a  fulness  that  no  other 
kind  of  language  could  afford.  This  is  a  reason  why  the 
Word  of  God  would  be  expressed  in  the  symbolic  language 
which  we  find  it  clothed  with,  and  not  in  the  abstract,  meta- 
physical language  of  philosophers,  even  had  it  been  possi- 
ble to  give  it  in  the  latter  style  ;  which  it  was  not.  Such 
abstract,  metaphysical  language  is  adapted  to  the  use  of 
21 


162  rLKNART    INSPIRATION    OP 

men  rendered  intelligent  by  the  advantages  of  Revelation, 
and  of  men  highly  illuminated  by  mediate  Revelation  ; 
but  not  of  those  who  are  the  subjects  of  immediate  Reve- 
lation, or  who  are  inspired  to  write  the  Word  of  God  it- 
self. Besides,  in  the  times  of  remote  antiquity,  this  artifi- 
cial language  was  entirely  unknown  ;  and  tliere  was  no 
occasion  for  it,  so  long  as  the  more  forcible  and  expressive 
language  of  analogy  continued  to  be  understood.  Revela- 
tion regards  man  as  a  spiritual  being,  the  destined  'nhaUi- 
tant  of  an  eternal  world  :  and  its  object  is,  to  communi- 
cate such  knowledge  as  is  necessary  to  raise  man  to  a 
capacity  of  filling,  in  that  eternal  world,  a  station  of  hap- 
piness and  honour  :  and  this  knowledge  is  sucli  as  regards 
the  existence  and  attributes  of  God,  man's  immortal  desti- 
ny, and  tlie  means  of  acquiring  the  qualifications  for  en- 
joying it.  The  knowledge  necessary  to  man's  existence  in 
the  natural  world, — whatever  belongs  to  that  which  is 
called  the  light  of  nature, — though  also  imparted  contin- 
ually, together  with  life,  from  God  ;  and  though,  as  was 
shewn  in  our  first  Lecture,  incapable  of  existing,  in  any 
high  perfection,  separately  from  the  light  of  Revelation  ; 
is,  nevertheless,  not  that  which  Revelation,  in  the  custom- 
ary sense  of  the  word,  is  given  to  afford.  Revelation 
assumes  the  other  as  something  already  known,  and  takes 
its  sentiments  and  expressions  as  vehicles  for  the  convey- 
ance of  its  own  ideas  ; — there  being  a  perfect  analogy  be- 
tween all  that  belongs  to  man  as  an  inhabitant  of  a  natural 
world,  and  what  belongs  to  or  concerns  him  as  the  heir  of 
a  spiritual  one  ;  of  course,  between  the  light  of  nature  and 
the  light  of  heaven.  Thus  the  analogical  language  of  the 
Word  of  God,  though  it  never  uses  abstract,  metaphysical 
expressions,  is  not  confined  to  the  mention  of  the  irrational 
and  inanimate  parts  of  nature,  but  embraces  all  that  arises 
out  of  man's  inclinations  and  feelings  as  an  animal  and 
naturally  rational  being,  and  as  a  member  of  civil  society  ; 
because  all  this  answers,  by  a  decided  mutual  relation,  to 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  16S 

that  which  belongs  to  his  spiritual  affections  and  feelings, 
as  an  immortal  and  spiritually  rational  being,  designed  to 
become  a  member  of  angelic  society.  The  Divine  Truth 
then,  when  descending  into  the  world  of  nature,  clothes 
itself,  in  part,  with  language  taken  from  man's  ideas  as  a 
naturally  rational  and  social  being,  and  in  part,  from  his 
ideas  as  an  animal  being,  or  from  the  ideas  of  things  ne- 
cessary to  his  merely  animal  existence  ;  the  whole  being 
bottomed  on  the  images  presented  to  his  thoughts  by  out- 
ward and  material  nature.  Between  all  these  and  things 
purely  spiritual  and  divine,  there  is  a  constant  Relation  of 
Analogy  :  and  the  application  of  them,  by  Infinite  Wisdom 
and  Knowledge,  to  the  expression  of  spiritual  and  divine 
subjects,  forms  the  truly  Divine  Style  of  Writing,  and 
marks  the  book  in  which  it  is  found  as  a  truly  Divine 
Composition. 

2.  An  observation  of  considerable  importance  is  here 
necessary  to  be  made.  The  argument  urged  with  the 
greatest  air  of  triumph  by  those  who  deny  the  verbal  in- 
spiration of  the  Scriptures,  is,  that  if  the  very  words  were 
dictated  to  the  writers,  the  same  phraseology  and  style  of 
language  would  every  where  prevail,  and  we  should  not, 
in  these  respects,  find,  in  the  different  books,  so  much 
variety.  All  the  strength  of  this  argument  lies  in  the  sup- 
position, that  the  words  and  phrases  themselves,  if  of  di- 
vine inspiration,  must  have  proceeded  immediately,  just 
as  we  read  them,  out  of  the  mouth  of  God  :  but  the  view 
above  developed  shews  that  this  could  not  have  been  the 
case,  and  yet  that  the  human  penman  had  nothing  to  do 
with  selecting  the  expressions.  The  very  words  of  scrip- 
ture did  not,  we  have  seen,  proceed,  as  we  have  them  in 
natural  language,  from  the  mouth  of  God  himself :  but  the 
emanation  of  Divine  Truth  from  Him  clothed  itself  with 
natural  words  in  the  natural  world.  Where  could  it  thus 
clothe  itself  ?    Where,  in  th«  world  of  nature,  could  th« 


164  PLENART    INSPIRATION    OF 

Divine  Speech  find  the  words  required  for  its  natural  ex- 
pression ?  Where,  but  in  the  minds  of  the  human  agents, 
who,  as  passive  instruments  under  the  divine  operations, 
were  made  the  mediums  of  writing  and  delivering  it  to  the 
world  ?  The  emanation  of  Divine  Truth  proceeding  from 
the  Lord,  entering  into  and  filling  the  minds  of  the  writ- 
ers, so  as  to  take  entire  possession  of  all  their  faculties, 
clothed  itself  there  with  such  words  as  it  found  their 
memories  stored  with  :  these  it  adapted  to  itself,  so  as  to 
express  the  divine  things  intended  with  the  utmost  fulness  ; 
but  it  did  not  infuse  new  words  and  phrases,  such  as  the 
writers  had  not  heard  before.  And  as  similar  divine 
things  may  be  expressed  in  a  variety  of  ways,  therefore  the 
Holy  Spirit,  or  emanation  of  Divine  Truth,  could  find 
adequate,  though  varying  modes  of  expression,  in  the 
minds  of  all  the  different  instruments  it  employed.  Be- 
sides, though  the  divine  things  which  various  penmen  were 
commissioned  to  write,  had  frequently  a  general  similari- 
ty, there  cannot  be  any  absolute  sameness  ;  and  it  is  highly 
reasonable  to  su])pose,  that  the  Divine  Omniscience  select- 
ed to  compose  tlie  several  books,  particular  individuals, 
whose  peculiar  acquirements  and  style  of  language  were 
precisely  those,  which  were  best  adapted  to  give  the  pro- 
per expression  to  the  peculiar  divine  subjects  which  they 
were  to  be  the  organs  of  revealing  ;  and  there  surely  can 
be  no  doubt,  that  these  always  were  persons  who  from 
their  youth  had  been  especially  prepared  by  the  Divine 
Providence,  and  directed  to  such  pursuits  and  acquirements 
as  were  best  calculated  to  adapt  them  for  the  holy  office 
to  which  it  was  intended  to  call  them.  Although  then 
every  separate  penman  had,  and  must  have  had,  according 
to  the  view  here  offered,  his  own  peculiarity  of  style,  this 
does  not  prevent  his  writings  from  being  divinely  inspired, 
even  as  to  the  very  words  ;  since  the  Holy  Spirit  assumed 
the  words  in  his  mind,  and  thence  dictated  them  to  his 
pen.     But  whilst  each  writer  had  his  peculiar  style,   the 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &,C.  165 

truly  Divine  Style  is  common  to  them  all.  This  consists, 
we  have  seen,  in  conveying  spiritual  ideas  by  natural 
images,  with  undeviating  regularity,  such  as  can  only  be 
adhered  to  by  that  Omniscience  to  which  the  analogies 
that  unite  them  are  perfectly  known  :  and  this  is  done  by 
all  the  writers  of  the  Divine  Word,  though  living  in  very 
distant  ages, — though  they  had  no  means  of  settling  the 
plan  in  concert, — and  thougli  many  of  them,  certainly, 
did  not  understand  the  writings  of  each  other,  or  even 
their  own.  The  Divine  Spirit  which  possessed  them, — 
and  which  possessed  them  just  while  they  spoke  or  wrote, 
and  no  longer, — was  every  thing,  and  they,  respectively, 
were  nothing. 

3.  Another  remark  of  moment,  here,  also,  demands  in- 
sertion. It  is  customary  with  biblical  critics,  to  consider 
inspiration  as  something  inseparably  attached  to  the  per- 
sons inspired,  so  that  whatever  they  might  write,  from  the 
time  of  their  leceiving  the  endowment  to  their  life's  end, 
would  be  an  inspired  composition  :  and  some  even  appear 
to  consider  the  exercise  of  the  gift  as  left  entirely  to  the 
discretion  of  the  party  possessing  it.  Tliat  there  is  such  a 
species  of  inspiration  as  this,  we  readily  admit  ;  and  also, 
that  it  was  possessed  by  the  writers  of  some  of  the  books 
contained  in  the  collection  called  the  Bible, — perhaps  by 
them  all  :  but  without  an  inspiration  very  different  from 
this,  imparted  either  in  addition  to  it  or  quite  independ- 
ently of  it,  no  composition  that  can  be  called,  in  a  strict 
and  proper  sense,  "  the  Word  of  God,"  could  ever  have 
been  written.  This,  we  have  seen,  must  be  given  by  a 
plenary  divine  inspiration  ;  and  such  an  inspiration,  it  is 
evident,  instead  of  being  a  constant  attendant  on  any  one, 
could  last  no  longer  than  while  he  was  delivering  the  mes- 
sage, or  was  writing  the  book,  for  which  it  was  afforded. 
It  might  return  to  the  same  person  again,  as  it  commonly 
did  to  the  old  prophets,   or  it   might   hot  :  and  whatever 


166  PLENARY    INSPIRATIOIf    OF 

they  might  say  or  write  during  the  intervals,  could  only 
partake  of  that  inferior  inspiration  capable  of  being  attach- 
ed to  a  person  ;  and  not  necessarily  of  this.  We  have 
seen  that  this  inferior  inspiration  is  the  only  one  now  gen- 
erally acknowledged  to  belong  to  any  of  the  books  con- 
tained in  the  Bible  ;  we  admit  that  some  of  these  books 
may  be  composed  from  this  kind  of  inspiration,  and  thence 
have  no  sense  beside  that  of  the  letter  :  but  we  contend 
that  the  far  greater  quantity,  both  in  bulk  and  number  are 
certainly  written  by  the  higher  inspiration,  and  have  a 
spiritual  sense  throughout.*  To  construct  such  writings, 
or  to  impart  such  inspiration,  the  Divine  Speech,  or  the 
Divine  Word,  which  is  the  same  thing  as  the  Divine 
Truth,  must  have  emanated,  as  a  sphere  of  spiritual  light, 
from  the  bosom  of  Deity  into  the  circumference  or  lowest 
base  of  creation,  which  is  the  world  of  nature,  and,  filling 
tlie  prepared  minds  of  the  human  penmen,  must  there 
have  clothed  itself  with  natural  ideas,  or  with  images  taken 
from  the  natural  world,  before  it  could  be  presented,  in 
natural  language,  to  mankind  at  large. 

This,  it  is  presumed,  must  at  least  be  allowed  to  be  a 
probable  and  a  philosophical  view  of  the  nature  of  divine 
inspiration  :  it  will  also,  1  am  satisfied,  be  found  to  ex- 
plain, better  than  any  other  theory,  the  phaenomena  with 
Y  hich  plenary  inspiration  must  necessarily  be  attended  : 
and  I  trust  that  whoever  candidly  and  deeply^xamines  the 
subject,  will  find,  that  this  is  absolutely  the  only  way  in 
which  a  revelation  of  Divine  Truth — or  a  plenarily  inspir- 
ed composition, — can  be  given,  in  natural  language,  from 
God  to  man. 

III.  It  will  now  be  readily  seen,  that  if  the  order  above 
described  must  necessarily  govern  every  real  communica- 
tion, in  the  shape  of  a  written  revelation,  from  God  to 

*  See  Appendix,  No.  II. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  167 

man  ;  if  the  Divine  Truth  must  thus  clothe  itself  with 
ideas  and  images  taken  from  the  world  of  nature,  by  the 
instrumentality  of  human  minds,  before  it  could  be 
brouglit  into  a  natural  form,  and  be  presented  to  the  inha- 
bitants of  a  natural  world  ;  and  if  the  Divine  Style  of 
writing  must  thus  follow  the  Law  of  that  Analogy  which 
indissolubly  connects  natural  objects  and  ideas  with  such 
as  are  spiritual  and  divine  ; — then  the  spiritual  and  divine 
wisdom  which  such  a  revelation  must  contain  within  it, 
could  only  be  understood,  by  an  application  to  it  of  this 
Law.  And  if,  on  an  application  of  tliis  Law  to  the  books 
called  the  Holy  Scriptures,  it  shall  be  found  that  they  ex- 
hibit a  coherent  series  of  spiritual  and  divine  instruction, 
it  will  then  follow,  that  the  Scriptures  are  such  a  revela- 
tion of  Divine  Truth  presented  to  man  in  natural  lan- 
guage ;  that  they  are  indeed  the  Divine  Speech  or  Divine 
Word  which  has  emanated  from  the  bosom  of  Deity  into 
the  circumference  or  lowest  sphere  of  creation. 

Some  short  specimens  of  the  light  which  results  from 
the  application  of  the  Rule  above  stated  to  the  language  of 
Scripture  were  given  in  our  last  Lecture  :  but  it  is  intend- 
ed, in  the  sequel  of  this  and  in  the  next,  to  adduce  a  few 
sets  of  examples  from  each  of  the  various  kinds  of  compo- 
sition that  are  found  in  the  Holy  Word, — the  prophetical, 
the  historical,  and  the  preceptive. 

IV.*  Mankind  in  general  are  more  inclined  to  accept  a 
spiritual  signification  in  the  prophecies  than  in  the  other 
parts  of  the  Divine  Writings,  on  account  of  the  mysterious 
character  which  they  so  palpably  exhibit  ;  wherefore  it 
will  be  proper,  in  the  first  instance,  to  shew  the  Applica- 
bility of  the   Science  of  Analogies,  (for  by  this  name,  to 

*  It  would  be  more  proper  to  mark  this,  and  all  the  Sections  which  follow 
to  the  end  of  the  next  Lecture,  as  Subdivisions  under  the  last  General  Head  ; 
but  to  avoid  the  inconvenience  of  beginning  a  Lecture  with  a  Subordinate 
Section,  the  principal  of  them  are  marked  as  Leading  Divisions. 


168  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

avoid  circuitous  modes  of  expression,  it  may  be  expedient 
to  denominate  the  system  we  have  endeavoured  to  explain,) 
as  a  Rule  for  interpreting  the  prophetical  parts  of  Holy 
Writ. 

In  our  second  Lecture,  after  having  offered  various 
arguments  to  shew,  that  a  composition  which  is  rightly 
denominated  "  the  Word  of  God,"  must  contain,  and  that 
the  Holy  Scriptures  profess  to  contain,  treasures  of  wis- 
dom beyond  what  is  extant  on  the  surface,  we  adduced 
some  general  testimonies  from  modern  writers  to  the  cer- 
tainty of  this  fact,  and  we  intimated  that  we  should  men- 
tion others  in  the  sequel.  We  will  here  then  notice  the 
sentiments  of  Biblical  Critics  on  what  is  called  the  Double 
Sense  of  Prophecj^  ;  as  we  propose  to  do  hereafter  on  the 
typical  nature  of  the  Scripture  History  ;  and  we  shall  find 
that  we  still  have  great  names  to  countenance  (if  Truth 
requires  countenance,)  the  views  we  wish  to  establish.  In 
the  days  of  man's  integrity,  doubtless,  truth  was  seen,  by 
intuition,  as  soon  as  it  was  heard  :  they  then  had  no  need 
to  "  teach  every  man  his  neighbour  and  every  man  his 
brother  ;"*  they  could  decide  at  once  with  an  infallible 
"  Yea,  yea,  or  Nay,  nay  ;"  and  it  is  unquestionably  true, 
as  the  Divine  Instructer  affirms,  that  "  whatsoever  is  more 
than  these  cometli  of  evil, "f  or  is  a  consequence  of  that 
obscurity  of  intellect  which  evil  has  introduced.  But  the 
axioms  are  few  indeed  on  which  we  can  now  thus  unhesi- 
tatingly pronou  ce.  Beyo  d  the  most  common  principles, 
we  now  require  reasoning  to  assist  our  judgment  ;  and 
where  the  subject  is  new  to  us,  we  often  fear  to  yield  even 
to  the  clearest  train  of  induction,  unless  it  comes  recom- 
mended to  us  by  the  judgment  of  others.  Now  when  any 
system  that  is  presented  to  us  is  entirely  new,  or  has  not 
before  been  adopted  by  any  whose  authority  we  respect, 
it  evidently  cannot  have  this  direct  recommendation  :  but 

*  Jer.  xxxi.  34.  i  Matt.  v.  37. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C,  169 

it  may  have  such  an  indirect  one,  as  is,  perhaps,  still 
stronger.  For  if  we  find  that  others,  though  they  liave 
not  liit  upon  the  same  principle,  have  yet  evidently  felt 
the  Avant  of  it  ; — if  they  have  seen  the  necessity  of  admit- 
ting some  general  sentiment  of  which  that  proposed  is 
only  a  more  exact  modification  ; — if  their  ideas,  though 
evidently  true  in  the  main,  are  attended  with  some  defi- 
ciency which  the  principle  suggested  supplies  ; — if  what 
in  them  was  vague,  unsatisfactory,  incoherent,  becomes, 
by  the  proposed  addition,  determinate,  conclusive,  and 
compact  :  then  have  we,  in  their  partial  dissent,  a  strong- 
er recommendation  of  the  correction  offered,  than  could 
have  attended  the  fidlest  acquiescence.  Tliey  start  a  pro- 
blem ;  if  the  proposed  theory  aff'ords  precisely  that  which 
was  felt  to  be  wanting  to  its  complete  solution,  then  both 
support  each  other.  Now  this  appears  to  me  to  be  the 
true  state  of  the  case,  between  the  Science  of  Analogies,  as 
a  universal  Rule  for  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  the  doctrine  of  eminent  writers  respecting  the  double 
sense  of  prophecy,  and  the  typical  import  of  the  scripture 
history.  They  advance  a  general  principle,  which  none 
can  deny,  without  maintaining  a  system  of  interpretation, 
or  rather  of  mangling,  truly  Procrustean  :  and  the  Science 
of  Analogies,  though  not  recurred  to  by  them, — at  least 
not  in  a  form  sufficiently  extensive  and  definite,  affords 
the  only  means  of  satisfactorily  demonstrating  their  gene- 
ral principle. 

1 .  As  some  theologians  of  modern  times  have  attempted 
to  deny  any  but  a  literal  sense  to  the  Word  of  God  in  gen- 
eral, they  have  also,  to  preserve  consistency,  been  obliged 
to  deny  any  more  than  a  single  meaning  to  the  propheti- 
cal writings  ;  although  this  denial  cannot  be  maintained 
without  charging  the  evangelists  with  gross  ignorance,  and 
with  mis-application  of  the  pro})he(:ies  which  tliey  have 
quoted.     However,  the  great  violence  whicJi  must  Ite  done 


170  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

to  the  Scriptures  if  this  be  asserted,  has  hitherto  prevent- 
ed this  opinion  from  becoming  very  general  :  and  the 
weiglit  of  most  of  our  great  authorities,  in  this  country  at 
least,  is  decidedly  in  favour  of  the  opinion,  that  the  pro- 
phetical writings  in  general  have  a  double  sense.  Thus 
Home  lays  it  down  as  a  Canon  of  interpretation,  in  his 
Introduction  to  the  Critical  Study  and  Knowledge  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  that  "  the  same  prophecies  frequently  have  a 
double  meaning,  and  refer  to  different  events,  the  one  near, 
the  other  remote  ;  the  one  temporal,  the  other  spiritual, 
or  perhaps  eternal  :"*  and  this  rule  he  supports  by  very 
convincing  quotations  from  Dr.  Woodhouse,  Bishop 
Home,  Dr.  Randolj)h,  the  distinguished  German  critic, 
Rambach,  and  the  celebrated  Latin  commentator  on  Isaiah, 
Professor  Vitringa.  As,  however,  in  the  first  Lecture,  I 
spoke  of  Bishop  Lowth,  as  being  one  of  those  who  have 
assisted  to  introduce  degrading  ideas  of  the  inspiration  cf 
the  Scriptures,  I  will  here  avail  myself  of  his  testimony  in 
an  instance,  in  which  I  think  he  has  well  employed  his 
elegant  pen  in  vindicating  the  spiritual  nature  of  the  Sa- 
cred Writings  : — though  this  drawback  adheres  to  his  re- 
marks ;  that  he  treats  the  prophetic  gift  as  something  in- 
herent in  the  prophets  themselves,  regardii  g  their  inspira- 
tion as  a  permanent  and  personal  endowment  ;  which,  we 
have  seen  above,  is  incompatible  with  the  idea  of  plenary 
inspiration,  such  as  that  of  the  prophets  must  necessarily 
have  been. 

In  the  notes  to  his  version  of  Isaiah,  Dr.  Lowth  con- 
tends, that  the  whole  of  the  writings  of  that  prophet,  from 
the  40th  chapter  to  the  end  of  the  book,  refer,  in  their 
ulterior  and  more  important  meaning,  to  the  coming  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  spiritual  kingdom  to  be 
established  by  him  ;  while  he  maintains,  that,  in  their 
more  immediate  sense,  they  relate  to  the  return   of  the 

'       *  Vol.  II.  Pt.  II.  Ch.  vii.  Canon  1. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  171 

Jews  from  their  captivity  in  Babylon.  These  are  his 
words  :  "  As  the  subject  of  his  [Isaiah's]  subsequent  pro- 
phecies was  to  be  chiefly  of  the  consolatory  kind,  he  opens 
them  with  giving  a  promise  of  the  restoration  of  the  king- 
dom [of  David],  and  tlie  return  of  the  people  from  cap- 
tivity, by  the  merciful  interposition  of  God  in  their  favour. 
But  the  views  of  the  piophet  are  not  confined  to  this 
event  :  as  the  restoration  of  the  royal  family,  and  of 
the  tribe  of  Judah,  which  would  otherwise  have  soon  be- 
come undistinguished,  and  have  been  irrecoverably  lost, 
was  necessary,  in  the  design  and  order  of  providence,  for 
the  fulfilling  of  God's  promise  of  establishing  a  more  glo- 
rious and  an  everlasting  kingdom,  under  the  Messiah,  to 
be  born  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  of  the  family  of  David  ; 
the  prophet  connects  these  two  events  together,  and  hardly 
ever  treats  of  the  former  witliout  throwing  in  some  intima- 
tions of  the  latter  ;  and  sometimes  is  so  fully  possessed 
with  the  glories  of  the  future  more  remote  kingdom,  that 
he  seems  to  leave  the  more  immediate  subject  of  his  com- 
mission almost  out  of  the  question.  Indeed,"  the  Bishop 
adds,  "  this  evangelical  sense  of  the  prophecy  is  so  appar- 
ent, and  stands  forth  in  so  strong  a  light,  that  some  inter- 
preters cannot  see  that  it  has  any  other  ;  and  will  not 
allow  the  prophecy  to  have  any  relation  at  all  to  tiie  re- 
turn from  the  captivity  of  Babylon."  As,  however,  Dr. 
Lowth  was  of  opinion,  that,  in  its  j)rimary  sense,  the  pro- 
phecy relates  to  the  return  from  Babylon,  he  here  enters 
into  a  view  of  it  in  that  reference  :  and  he  sums  up  his 
remarks  on  the  subject  thus  :  "  These  things  considei  ed,  I 
have  not  the  least  doubt,  that  the  return  of  the  Jews  from 
Babylon  is  the  first,  though  not  the  principal,  thing  in  the 
prophet's  view.  The  Redemption  from  Babylon  is  clearly 
foretold  ;  and  at  the  same  time  is  employed  as  an  image  to 
shadow  out  a  redemption  of  an  infinitely  higher  and  more 
important  nature."  He  makes  some  other  strong  remarks 
upon  the  necessity  of  admitting  the  farther  signification  of 


172  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

the  prophecy  ;  and  concludes  with  these  words  :  "  If  the 
literal  sense  of  this  prophecy,  as  above  explained,  cannot  be 
questioned,  much  less,  surely,  can  the  spiritual ;  which  I  think 
is  allowed  on  all  hands,  even  by  Grotius  himself.  If  both 
are  to  be  admitted,  here  is  a  plain  example  of  the  Mystical 
Allegory,  or  double  sense,  as  it  is  commonly  called,  of 
prophecy  ;  u-hich  the  sacred  icriters  uf  the  JYew  Testament 
clearly  suppose,  and  according  to  ichich  they  frequently  frame 
their  interpretations  of  the  Old  Testament.''^* 

Here  then  the  learned  Bishop  strongly  contends  for 
allowing,  in  some  instances,  the  existence  in  prophecy  of  the 
mystical  allegory  or  double  sense.  Indeed,  the  fact  is  so 
plain  to  a  student  of  the  prophets,  that  it  almost  forces 
itself  upon  the  most  sceptical.  But  I  apprehend  that  eve- 
ry mind  not  previously  aware  of  the  state  of  opinion  on 
this  subject,  must  be  somewhat  surprised  at  the  saving 
clause,  "  in  some  instances,''''  which  I  have  here  introduced, 
that  I  might  not  seem  to  stretch  the  authority  of  the  Bi- 
shop farther  than  he  intended  :  and  because,  as  observed  in 
the  second  Lecture,  though  most  modern  writers  on  Scrip- 
ture Inter])retation  admit  the  necessity  of  having  recourse 
to  a  spiritual  sense  in  some  instances,  few  of  them  accept  it 
in  all.  Will  not,  however,  every  person  who  comes  to 
the  question  unbiassed,  on  finding  even  the  most  cautious 
critics  compelled  to  adopt  a  spiritual  sense  in  some  instances, 
be  ready  to  exclaim,  "  Why  not  allow  the  prophets,  and 
the  Scriptures  in  general,  to  be  written  according  to  a  re- 
gular system  ?  If  there  is  a  double  sense  in  some  places, 
why  not  in  all  .''  It  surely  would  be  a  far  more  consistent 
mode  of  interpretation  to  admit  this  than  otherwise.  You 
then  make  the  Scriptures  uniform  thioughout,  and  take 
away  that  uncertainty  which  must  attend  all  attempts  to 
explain  them,  when  it  is  supposed  that  one  part  must  be 
understood  literally,  but   that  another  may  be  understood 

*  Lowth's  Isaiah,  Notes  on  Cli.  xl. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  173 

spiritually,  and  we  are  left  to  jviinp,  as  capri(;e  may  dic- 
tate, from  the  letter  to  the  spirit  and  from  the  spirit  to  the 
letter,  without  knowing,  with  any  certainty,  where  we 
are  to  abide  by  the  one,  or  where  we  are  to  look  for  the 
other." — We  shall  touch  again,  in  our  next  Lecture,  upon 
the  inconsistencies  into  which  expositors  fall,  by  following 
so  vague  and  unsettled  a  mode  of  interpretation  :  yet  by 
admitting  a  spiritual  sense  in  any  case  wiiatever,  they  es- 
tablish the  general  principle,  which,  when  extended  and 
rendered  uniform,  in  the  manner  we  propose,  completely 
solves  all  the  phaenoinena  of  the  case  :  and  thus  their 
maimed  and  limping  system  bears  testimony  to  that  by 
which  its  defects  are  supplied.  Though  itself  but  a  mis- 
shapen shadow,  it  proves  the  existence  of  the  symmetrical 
reality,  by  an  imperfect  apprehension  of  which  it  was  pro- 
duced. On  this  subject  we  will  only  add,  here,  that  if  it 
were  seen  that  tlie  prophecies,  and  indeed  the  other  parts 
of  the  Scriptures,  every  where  have  a  literal  sense,  in 
which  natural  events,  connected  with  the  fate  of  Israel  and 
the  surrounding  nations,  are  referred  to,  but  that  all  these 
natural  events  are  themselves  types  and  representations  of 
things  of  spiritual,  yea,  of  eternal  moment  ;  then,  at  any 
rate,  we  should  regard  the  Scriptures  as  being  every  where 
consistent  with  themselves, — every  where  written  upon 
one  uniform  system  :  and  we  should  only  want  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Relation  which  all  natural  things  bear  to  spi- 
ritual, to  possess  a  Rule  of  certain  interpretation. 

2.  Even  an  approach  to  tliis  has  been  made  by  that 
great  genius,  Sir  Isaac  Newton  ;  who,  though  his  expla- 
nations of  prophecy  have  not  been  generally  accepted,  yet 
laid  down  a  Rule  of  Analogy,  or  Mutual  Relation,  between 
the  things  mentioned  and  the  things  meant,  which  succeed- 
ing commentators  have  eagerly  adopted.  But  alas  !  his 
rule  does  not  extend  far  enough  ;  it  not  pointing  out  an 
analogy  between  natural   things  and  spiritual  things,  but 


174  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

only  between  natural  things  of  a  lower  order  and  those 
of  a  higher  :  however,  as  being  an  approximation  to 
the  true  rule  of  interpretation,  and  thus  tending,  as  far 
as  it  ffoes,  to  point  to  the  true  rule  and  confirm  it,  we  will 
state  his  system  as  explained  by  himself.  He  delivers  it 
in  these  words  :  "  The  figurative  language  of  the  Proph- 
ets is  taken  from  the  analogy  between  tiie  world  natural, 
and  an  empire  or  kingdom  considered  as  a  world  politic. 
Accordingly,  the  whole  world  natural,  consisting  of 
heaven  and  earth,  signifies  the  whole  world  politic,  con- 
sisting of  thrones  and  people,  or  so  much  of  it  as  is  con- 
sidered in  prophecy  :  and  the  things  in  that  world  signify 
the  analogous  thino-s  in  this.  For  the  heavens  and  the 
things  therein  signify  thrones  and  dignities,  and  those  who 
enjoy  tliem  ;  and  the  earth,  with  the  things  thereon,  the 
inferior  people  ;  and  the  lowest  parts  of  the  earth,  called 
Hades  or  Hell,  the  lowest  or  most  miserable  part  of  them. 
— Great  earthquakes,  and  the  shaking  of  heaven  and  earth, 
are  put  for  the  shaking  of  kingdoms,  so  as  to  distract  and 
overthrow  them  ;  the  creating  a  new  heaven  and  eartii, 
and  the  passing  of  an  old  one,  or  the  beginning  and  end 
of  a  Avorld,  for  the  rise  and  ruin  of  a  body  politic,  signified 
thereby.  The  sun,  for  the  whole  species  and  race  of  kings, 
in  the  kingdoms  of  the  Avorld  politic  ;  the  moon,  for  the 
body  of  the  common  people,  considered  as  the  king's 
wife  ;  the  stars,  for  subordinate  princes  and  great  men  ; 
or  for  bishops  and  rulers  of  the  people  of  God,  when  the 
sun  is  Christ  : — the  setting  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars, 
darkening  of  the  sun,  turning  the  moon  into  blood,  and 
falling  of  the  stars,  for  the  ceasing  of  a  kingdom."* 

This  idea  is  certainly  very  striking  :  accordingly,  it  is 
taken  up  and  carried  on  by  Bishop  Warburton,  in  these 
words  :  "  The  old  Asiatic  style,  so  highly  figurative, 
seems,  by  wliat  we  find   of  its   remains  in   the  prophetic 


*  Obscrvafion.«  on  Propliecv,  T't.  i.  rh.  2. 


THE  SCRIPTURES  ASSERTED,  &C.  175 

language  of  the  Sacred  Writings,  to  have  been  evidently 
fashioned  to  the  mode  of  ancient  hieroglyphic?,  both  curi- 
ologic  and  tropical. — Of  the  second  kind,  which  answers 
to  the  tropical  hieroglyphic,  is  the  calling  empires,  kings, 
and  nobles,  by  the  names  of  the  heavenly  luminaries,  the 
sun,  moon,  and  stars  ;  their  temporary  disasters,  or  entire 
overthrow,  by  eclipses  and  extinctions  :  the  destruction  of 
the  nobility,  by  stars  falling  from  the  firmament  ;  hostile 
invasions,  by  thunder  and  tempestuous  winds  ;  and  lead- 
ers of  armies,  conquerors,  and  founders  of  empires,  by 
lions,  bears,  leopards,  goats,  or  high  trees.  In  a  word, 
the  prophetic  style  seems  to  be  a  speaking  Hierogly- 
phic."* 

Here,  certainly,  the  existence  in  Scripture  of  a  Style  of 
Writing  formed  upon  the  principle  of  Mutual  Relation, 
by  putting  some  lower  thing  to  stand  as  the  type  of  a 
higher  to  which  it  is  perceived  to  answer,  is  clearly  re- 
cognized, and  the  necessity  of  admitting  it  is  strongly  en- 
forced. In  the  theory,  then,  of  these  eminent  writers,  in 
which,  as  stated  above,  they  have  been  generally  followed 
by  later  expositors,  we  certainly  have  an  approximation 
to  the  revival  of  the  Science  of  Analogies  :  Dr.  Warbur- 
ton  also  explicitly  affirms  the  opinion  advocated  in  the 
latter  part  of  our  last  Lecture, — that  this  Science,  in  an- 
cient times,  was  extensively  understood  ; — so  extensively, 
according  to  him,  as  to  give  a  peculiar  character  to  the 
compositions  of  the  countries  where  it  was  chiefly  culti- 
vated, the  language  of  which  he  thence  denominates  "  the 
old  Asiatic  Style." 

3.  But,  is  the  principle  of  Analogy,  as  broached  by  these 
authors,  to  form  a  key  to  the  interpretation  of  the  "  speak- 
ing Hieroglyphics"  of  the  prophetic  style  of  writing,  suffi- 
ciently definite,  and  sufficiently  extended  ?  Will  it  lead  us  to 

*  Div.  Legation,  Book  iv.  Sect.  4. 


17G  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

the  knowledge  of  that  which  may  properly  he  called,  the 
spiritual  sense  of  Scripture  ? — any  otherwise,  that  is,  than  as 
pointing  to  the  right  path  wlxich  will  conduct  us  to  this  ob- 
ject ; — as  suggesting  the  principle,  which,  when  rectified  and 
carried  on,  will  attain  this  end.  They  interpret,  we  see, 
one  natural  thing,  as  the  sun  or  moon,  to  mean  another 
natural  thing  of  a  different  order,  as  the  king  or  people  ; 
and  it  is  evident  that  the  sense  thus  obtained  is  but  a 
natural  sense,  and  not  a  spiritual  one,  after  all.  The  gene- 
ral truth  of  the  natural  interpretation  thus  established,  is, 
indeed,  in  many  instances,  very  evident.  We  have  seen 
that  Dr.  Lowth  affirms  that  the  return  of  the  Jews  from 
Babylon  is  treated  of  by  Isaiah,  from  the  fortieth  chapter 
to  the  end  of  his  prophecies,  though  in  language,  even  in 
this  application,  far  from  admitting  a  literal  signification  : 
so  in  the  thirteenth  chapter,  the  destruction  of  Babylon  is 
described  in  the  symbolic  terms  which  form  the  chief  sub- 
ject of  the  observations  on  the  prophetic  style  above  ad- 
duced from  Sir  Isaac  Newton  :  "  The  stars  of  heaven  and 
tlie  constellations  thereof  shall  not  give  their  light  :  the 
sun  shall  be  darkened  in  his  going  forth,  and  the  moon 
shall  not  cause  her  light  to  shine  :"* — and  certain  it  is  that 
the  Babylonian  empire  was  entirely  overthrown,  and  that 
the  Jews  were  restored  by  its  conqueror  to  their  country. 
These  events,  then,  were  "  the  jirst  though  not  the  principal 
things  in  the  prophet's  view."  Still  it  must  be  most  cer- 
tain, that  accounts,  though  delivered  prophetically  and  in 
symbolic  language,  of  the  revolutions  of  kingdoms,  can 
never  be  things  intended  to  occupy  a  place  in  the  Word  of 
God,  any  otherwise  than  as  types  of  things  of  far  greater 
moment.  Accordingly,  Bishop  Lowth  assures  us,  that 
"  the  redemption  from  Babylon  is  employed  as  an  image, 
to  shadow  out  a  redemption  of  an  infinitely  higher  and 
more  important  nature  :"  if  so,  it  is  the  height  of  inconsist- 

*  Isaiiili,  xiii.  10. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  177 

ency  to  imagine,  that  any  of  the  numerous  other  predic- 
tions which  have  natural  and  temporal  catastrophes  and 
deliverances  as  the  first  things  in  view,  have  not  also  such 
as  are  spiritual  and  eternal  as  the  principal.  Could  it  then 
be  proved  that  all  tlie  prophecies  of  Scripture  have  thus 
had  a  fulfilment  in  external  events  ;  and  could  all  their 
mysterious  language  be  clearly  appropriated  to  corres- 
ponding historical  circumstances  ;  it  would  still  be  true, 
that  the  spiritual  things  described  in  the  ulterior  sense  of 
the  prophetic  language,  were  typically  pictured  by  such 
external  events  ; — that  a  spiritual  fulfilment  was  at  the 
same  time  primarily  regarded,  and  that  of  this  was  given, 
in  the  corresponding  historical  circumstances,  a  symbolic 
scenical  representation.  In  agreement,  then,  with  the 
learned  authors  to  whom  we  have  referred,  it  is  to  be  as- 
sumed as  an  unquestionable  fact,  that  the  language  of  pro- 
phecy is  composed  of  series  of  analogies  and  mutual  rela- 
tions :  but,  in  agreement  with  the  character  and  necessary 
design  of  a  divinely  inspired  composition,  the  analogies 
and  relations  properly  intended,  are  not  those  which  may 
be  traced  between  certain  natural  things  and  certain  other 
natural  things,  but  between  natural  things  and  spiritual. — 
The  general  spiritual  objects  regarded  are,  the  Lord,  the 
soul  of  man.  his  state  hereafter,  and  the  church,  as  the 
medium  of  ministering  spiritual  things  to  man. 

We  will  here  repeat  the  quotation  on  the  science  of  ana- 
logies, above  adduced  from  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  so  altered 
as  to  apply  to  the  analogy  between  the  natural  things  men- 
tioned in  Scripture,  and  the  spiritual  things  to  which  they 
properly  answer,  instead  of  the  other  natural  things  to 
which  that  author  referred  them.*  "  The  figurative  lan- 
guage of  the  prophets  is  taken  from  the  analogy  between 
the  world  natural  and  a  church  or  congregation  of  people 
considered  as  a  world  spiritual.     Accordingly  the  whole 

*  The  alterations  are  printed  in  Italics. 

23  / 


178  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

world  natural,  consisting  of  heaven  and  earth,  signifies  the 
whole  world  spiritual,  consisting  of  an  internal  and  an  exter- 
nal principle,  answering  to  what  is  called,  in  individuals,  the  in- 
ternal and  external  man;  and  the  things  in  that  world  signify 
the  analoffous  thinas  in  this.  For  the  heavens  and  the 
things  therein  signify  the  internal  principles,  and  all  the  hea- 
venly graces,  constituent  of  a  church, — or,  all  that  belongs  to  the 
internal  man  ;  and  the  earth,  with  the  things  thereon,  the 
outward  form  and  order,  profession  and  practice,  of  the  same, — 
or,  all  that  belongs  to  the  external  man  :  and  the  lowest  parts 
of  the  earth,  called  Hades  or  Hell,  the  external  man  when  en- 
tirely separated  from  the  internal,  so  as  to  be  the  mere  abode  of  in- 
fernal lusts  and  insane  follies,  with  the  state  of  misery  consequent 
thereupon  hereafter  ; — it  also  sometimes  means  a  state  of  tempta- 
tion, because  in  this,  man  appears  to  be  in,  or  in  danger  of,  such 
a  condition.  Great  earthquakes,  and  the  shaking  of  heaven 
and  earth,  are  put  for  the  shaking  of  churches,  so  as  to  dis- 
tract and  overthrow  them,  or  at  least  to  occasion  a  remarkable 
change  in  their  state  :  the  new  heaven  and  earth,  and  the 
passing  of  an  old  one,  or  the  beginning  and  end  of  a  world, 
for  the  rise  and  ruin  of  a  society  of  men  as  constituting  a 
church.  The  sun  is  put  for  the  first  of  heavenly  graces  consti- 
tuent of  a  true  church,  which  is  love  to  the  Lord  and  our  neigh- 
bour ;  the  moon,  for  that  true  faith  which  is  the  propeP consort 
of  such  love  or  charity  ;  the  stars,  for  subordinate  jjarftcw/ars 
of  divine  knowledge, — or  for  eminent  lights  of  the  church,  when 
the  sun  is  Christ:  the  setting  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars, — 
darkening  of  the  sun,  turning  the  moon  into  blood,  and 
falling  of  the  stars,  for  the  ceasing  of  a  church,  or  of  a  socie- 
ty from  constituting  a  church,  in  consequence  of  a  pure  love  to  the 
Lord,  faith  in  Him,  and  a  knowledge  of  spiritual  subjects,  being 
no  longer  left  among  them,  or  being  perverted  into  their  opposites.''^ 
Now,  though  the  dry  statement  that  such  is  the  spiritual 
meaning  of  certain  natural  emblems,*  may  not  carry  the 

*  See  thn  several  particulars  taken  up,  and  more  fuUy  explained,  in  the 
Appendix,  No.  HI. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  179 

conviction  of  its  truth  to  every  mind  ;  yet  I  think  the  sig- 
nifications here  assigned  to  the  great  objects  of  "  the  world 
natural"  will  at  once  be  seen  to  have  more  to  recommend 
them,  than  Sir  Isaac's  application  of  tliem  to  the  objects  of 
"  the  world  politic  :"  for  the  analogies  we  have  suggested 
are  founded  in  the  very  nature  and  constitution  of  things, 
and  do  not  depend,  as  do  some  of  his,  upon  the  arbitrary 
institutions  of  society.  His  testimony,  however,  in  favour 
of  the  principl-j,  is  highly  valuable.  And  as  many  learned 
and  intelligent  writers  have  thus  seen  the  necessity  of  re- 
sorting to  analogies  between  different  orders  of  existences, 
to  obtain  a  key  for  decyphering  the  "  speaking  hierogly- 
phics" of  divine  prophecy  ;  so,  I  trust,  it  must  readily  be 
admitted,  by  all  who  may  think  that  our  former  Lecture 
succeeded  in  establishing  the  existence  of  a  real  Analogy 
between  Natui-al  things  and  Spiritual,  that  this  affords  the 
true  Rule  for  interpreting  the  language  of  prophetic  inspi- 
ration. If,  also,  the  Scriptures  are  the  Word  of  God,  they 
must  be  designed  to  convey,  not  natural,  but  spiritual  in- 
struction: But  the  Scriptures,  we  find,  consist  in  their  let- 
ter, as  is  remarkably  obvious  in  the  prophets,  of  continued 
series  of  natural  images  :  How  then  can  they  convey  spi- 
ritual instruction,  unless  there  be  such  a  fixed  relation  be- 
tween spiritual  ideas  and  natural  ones,  that  the  latter  will 
admit  of  being;  regularly  translated  into  the  former  ?  Ad- 
mitting  these  premises,  the  applicability  of  the  Science  of 
Spiritual  Analogies,  as  a  Rule  for  the  interpretation  of 
prophecy,  and  as  an  improvement  on  the  natural  analogies 
proposed  by  Newton  and  Warburton,  cannot  be  doubted. 
And  this  will  convert  the  material  images  of  the  letter,  in- 
to a  mirror  resplendent  with  heavenly  glories;  as  the  gross 
substances  composing  the  disk  of  the  moon  reflect  to  us 
the  light  Oi  the  sun. 

V.    Since  then  we  find,  altogether,  so  great   a  concur- 
rence of  circumstances,  leading   us  to    expect,  first,  that  a 


180  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

real  Revelation  from  God,  in  natural  language,  must  con- 
tain a  spiritual  sense  beyond  that  of  the  letter,  and  must  be 
composed  according  to  the  law  of  the  Analogy  necessarily 
subsisting  between  spiritual  tilings  and  natural  ;  and,  se- 
condly, that  the  books  commonly  received  as  the  Word  of 
God,  do,  in  general,  contain  such  a  spiritual  sense,  and  are 
written  according  to  this  Law  :  we  proceed  to  ascertain 
the  foct,  in  regard  to  the  prophetical  writings  in  particu- 
lar, by  trying,  in  two  or  three  instances,  what  sort  of  sense 
is  obtained  by  applying  the  Science  of  Analogies  to  tlieir 
interpretation.  We  will  select  an  example  from  each  of 
the  three  prophetic  authorities  of  the  Divine  Word  ; — the 
Prophets  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
when  on  earth,  and  the  Apocalyptic  Divine. 

1.  In  the  book  of  Ezekiel  we  have  this  very  extraordi- 
nary prophetic  declaration  :  "  And  thou,  son  of  man,  thus 
saith  the  Lord  God  :  Speak  unto  every  feathered  fowl, 
and  to  every  beast  of  the  field,  Assemble  yourselves,  and 
come;  gather  yourselves  on  every  side  to  my  sacrifice  tliat 
I  do  sacrifice  for  you,  even  a  great  sacrifice  upon  the 
mountains  of  Israel,  that  ye  may  eat  flesh  and  drink  blood. 
Ye  shall  eat  the  flesh  of  the  mighty,  and  drink  the  blood 
of  the  princes  of  the  earth,  of  rams,  of  lambs,  and  of  goats, 
of  bullocks,  all  of  them  fatlings,  of  Bashan.  And  ye  shall 
eat  fat  till  ye  be  full,  and  drink  blood  till  ye  be  drunken, 
of  my  sacrifice  which  I  have  sacrificed  for  you.  Thus 
shall  ye  be  filled  at  my  table  with  horses  and  chariots, 
with  mighty  men  and  with  all  men  of  war,  saith  the  Lord 
God."* 

These  words  form  part  of  a  prophecy,  occupying  the 
whole  of  two  chapters,  against  Gog  and  Magog,  who  are 
described  as  about  to  invade  the  land  of  Israel,  there  to 
meet  with  total  destruction  :  and  I  have  selected  them  as 
our  first  example  of  the  application  of  the  Science  of  Ana- 


Ezck.  xxxix.  17  to  20. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &,C.  181 

logics  to  the  interpretation  of  the  language  of  jiropliecy, 
because  they  form  one  of  the  passages  in  the  projjhetic 
writings  tliat  appear  most  deeply  wrapped  in  mystery,  and 
of  which  the  literal  sense  is  involved  in  the  greatest  ob- 
scurity. The  mere  sense  of  the  words,  is,  indeed,  suffi- 
ciently obvious;  but  what  the  events  are,  in  the  history  of 
the  Jews  and  other  nations,  to  which  the  prophecy  may  he 
supposed  to  ])oint  ;  or,  in  the  language  of  Bishop  Lowth, 
what  was  "  the  first  thing  in  the  prophet's  view"  when  he 
delivered  it;  has  never  been  satisfactorily  shewn.  In  such 
passages  as  this,  then,  the  certainty  that  tlie  Divine  Word 
must  contain  a  spiritual  seufe,  and  the  need  of  a  key  for 
the  decyphering  of  it,  are  more  peculiarly  evident.  And 
as  the  existence  of  such  passages  is  calculated  to  throw 
much  light  upon  the  nature  of  divine  prophecy  in  gene- 
ral, some  remarks  upon  them  may  not  be  out  of  place. 

(1.)  Although  it  appears  that  prophecy  sometimes  as- 
sumes the  form  of  anticipated  history,  and  receives  its  first 
fulfilment  in  events  affecting  the  fates  of  different  nations, 
yet  in  some  instances  it  will  be  found  no  otherwise  to  par- 
take of  the  nature  of  anticipated  history,  than  as  parable 
approaches  to  that  of  past  history  ;  that  is,  it  is  similar  in 
form,  but  is  to  be  understood  as  pure  allegory,  in  whicli, 
though  the  ideas  conveyed  by  the  letter  are  perfectly  dis- 
tinct, they  do  not  announce  any  corresponding  natural 
events,  but  are  to  be  spiritually  understood  altogether. 
Another  very  remarkable  instance  of  this  kind  of  prophe- 
cy, in  which  the  spiritual  sense  alone  is  intended  for  fulfil- 
ment, occurs  in  Isaiah,  who  opens  his  sixty-third  chapter 
with  a  sublime  dialogue  between  the  prophet  and  a  glori- 
ous Personage  who  is  presented  to  the  i-apt  eye  of  the  seer; 
"  Who  is  this  that  cometh  from  Edom,  with  i]ycd  gar- 
ments from  Bozrah  ?  this  that  is  glorious  in  his  apparel, 
travelling  in  the  greatness  of  his  strength?"  "  1  that  speak 
in  righteousness,  mighty  to  save."  "  Wherefore  art  thou 
red  in  thine  apparel,  and  thy  garments  like  him  that  tread- 


182  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

etli  in  the  wine-vat  ?"  "  I  have  trodden  the  wine-press 
alone,  and  of  the  people  there  was  none  with  ine  :  for  I 
will  tread  them  in  mine  anger,  and  trample  them  in  my 
fury  ;  and  their  blood  shall  be  sprinkled  on  my  garments, 
and  I  will  stain  all  my  raiment  :  for  the  day  of  vengeance 
is  in  my  heart,  and  the  year  of  my  redeemed  is  come. 
And  I  looked,  and  there  was  none  to  help,  and  I  wondered 
that  there  was  none  to  uphold  :  therefore  mine  own  arm 
brought  salvation  to  me,  and  my  fury  it  upheld  me,"*  &c. 
Tlie  impossibility  of  applying  this  prediction  to  any  histo- 
rical events,  must  be  evident  to  all  whose  minds  are  not 
pre-occupied  with  a  system  :  but  I  will  here  deliver  my 
sentiments  in  the  words  of  Bishop  Lowth.  Speaking  of 
this  passage,  he  observes,  "  It  is  by  many  learned  inter- 
preters supposed,  that  Judas  Maccabaeus  and  his  victories 
made  tlie  subject  of  it  [the  above  passage.]  What  claim 
Judas  can  have  to  so  great  an  honour,  will,  I  think,  be 
very  difficult  to  make  out  ;  or  how  the  attributes  of  the 
great  Person  introduced  can  possibly  suit  him.  Could 
Judas  call  himself  the  Announcer  of  Righteousness,  mighty 
to  save  ?  Could  he  talk  of  the  day  of  vengeance  being  in 
his  heart,  and  the  year  of  his  redeemed  being  come  ?  or 
that  his  own  arm  wrought  salvation  for  him  ?  Besides, 
what  were  the  exploits  of  Judas  in  regard  to  the  Idumaeans? 
he  overcame  them  in  battle,  and  slew  twenty  thousand  of 
them.  And  John  Hyrcanus,  his  brother  Simon's  son  and 
successor,  who  is  called  in  to  help  out  the  accomplishment 
of  the  prophecy,  gave  them  another  defeat  some  time  af- 
terward, and  compelled  them  by  force  to  become  prose- 
lytes to  the  Jewish  religion. — Are  these  events  adequate  to 
the  prophet's  lofty  prediction  ?"  The  weakness  of  such  a 
supposition  is  further  exposed  by  our  learned  author  :  and 
then  he  adds,  "  I  conclude,  therefore,  that  this  prophecy 
has  not  the  least  relation  to  Judas  Maccabaeus.  It  may  be 
asked.  To  whom,  and  to  what  event,  does  it  relate?     I  can 

*   \'(?r.  1  to  5. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  183 

only  answer  that  /  knoio  of  no  event  in  history  to  which,  from 
its  importance  and  circumstances,  it  can  be  applied:  unles^s,  per- 
haps, to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Jewish  Poli- 
ty :  which  in  the  gospel  is  called  the  comintr  of  Christ,* 
and  the  days  of  vengeance.  But  though  this  prophecy 
must  have  its  accomplishment,  there  is  no  necessity  for 
supposing  that  it  has  been  already  accomplished.  Tliere 
are  prophecies,  which  intimate  a  great  slaughter  of  the 
enemies  of  God  and  his  people,  which  remain  to  be  fulfil- 
led :  these,  in  Ezekiel,  ch.  xxxviii.  and  in  the  Revelation 
of  St.  John,  ch.  xx.,  are  called  Gog  and  Magog.  This 
prophecy  of  Isaiah  may  possibly  refer  to  the  same  or  the 
like  event.  We  need  not  be  at  a  loss  to  determine  the 
Person  who  is  here  introduced  as  stained  with  treading  the 
wine-press,  if  we  consider  how  St.  .Tohn,  in  the  Revelation, 
has  applied  this  image  of  the  prophet.  Rev.  xix.  13,  15, 
16. "t 

Dr.  Lowth  here  explicitly  gives  his  opinion,  that  neither 
Ezekiel's  prophecy  of  Gog  and  Magog,  nor  Isaiah's  vision 
of  the  Lord's  coming  from  Edom,  have  yet  received  any 
outward  accomplishment  ;  but  he  evidently  is  at  a  loss  to 
reconcile  this  conveniently  with  his  system,  which  led  him 
to  suppose  that  all  the  predictions  of  Scripture  must  have 
such  an  accomplishment  ;  wherefore  he  suggests,  that 
though  this  must  be  the  fact,  it  may  be  postponed  sine  die. 
It  is  evident,  however,  that  if  no  historical  events  answer- 
ing to  these  two  prophetic  declarations  occurred  previous- 
ly to  the  gospel  era,  nor  even  up  to  the  present  times  ;  so 
great  is  the  change  which  has  taken  place  in  the  situation 
of  the  world  and  its  nations,  that  no  such  events  can  take 
place  hereafter.  There  are  no  longer  a  country  of  Edom, 
and  its  metropolis,  Bozrah,  from  whence  an  Announcer  of 
Righteousness  and  Redeemer  of  his  people  can  come  :  and 
though   it  may   be   true   that  the  Gog  and  Magog  of  the 


*  But  it  is  not  called  a  coming  from  Edom  and  Bozrah. 
t  Lo\\'tIi's  Isiiinli,  Notns  on  ch.  Ixiii. 


184  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

Scriptures,  in  their  literal  sense,  are  the  ancient  Scythians; 
yet,  should  we  recognize  these  again  in  the  modern  Tar- 
tars ;  or,  with  one  of  the  multitude  of  expositors  who  ap- 
plied the  dark  prophecies  of  Scripture  to  the  events  of  the 
last  great  war,  could  we  even  discover  the  Gog  and  Magog 
of  Ezekiel  and  John  in  the  Autocrat  of  Russia  and  his  sub- 
jects ;  it  would  be  idle  to  expect  that  these  will  at  any  pe- 
riod be  gathei'ed  together  in  the  land  of  Israel,  to  be  there 
whelmed  in  utter  destruction  ;  since  the  land  of  Israel  can 
never  again  be  put  in  the  situation  which  the  prophecy 
supposes, — inhabited  by  Jews  returned  from  the  captivity 
in  Babylon.  It  really  then  is  impossible  that  these  prophe- 
cies should  ever  obtain  an  external  fulfilment  :  they  must 
have  a  spiritual  one,  or  none. 

Now  the  embarrassment  which  such  passages  occasion  to 
those  who  hold  the  common  sentiments  respecting  the  de- 
sign of  the  prophetic  writings,  arises  hence:  that  although, 
with  Dr.  Lowth,  expositors  affirm  certain  outward  events 
to  be  "  thejirsf,  but  not  the  pnncipaZ,  things  in  the  pro- 
phet's view,"  they  at  the  same  time  make  this  subordinate 
accomplishment  more  indispensable  than  the  other  :  for 
while  they  look  every  xchere  for  an  outward  reference  of 
prophecy,  they  only  allow  it  to  have  a  spiritual  sense  in 
some  instances, — in  those  places,  where  it  is  too  plain  to  be 
overlooked.  But  if  the  converse  of  this  idea  be  the  true 
one  ;  if  "  the  principal  thing  in  the  prophet's  view,"  (or 
rather,  in  the  view  of  the  Inspirer  of  the  prophets,)  is  the 
principal  thing  indeed  ;  if  to  impart  instruction  on  spiritual 
subjects  is,  in  fact,  the  only  thing  regarded  by  the  Divine 
Mind  in  giving  a  revelation  ;  and  if  this  is  equally  impart- 
ed, by  the  language  of  prophecy,  when  it  speaks,  in  the 
letter,  of  natural  events,  whether  such  events  were  ever 
acted,  or  intended  to  be  acted,  on  the  outward  theatre  of 
the  world,  or  not  : — then  we  have  a  view  of  the  nature  of 
divine  prophecy  whi(;h  can  occasion  no  emljarrassment, 
and  we  shall  not  be  compelled  to  torture  the  facts,  to  make 
them  agree  with  the  hypothesis. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  186 

Although,  therefore,  as  admitted  above,  the  Scriptures 
have  every  where  a  literal  sense,  in   which  natural  events, 
connected  with  the  fate  of  Israel  and  the  surroundino-  na- 
tions,  are   referred  to  ;  it   is   hy  no   moans  essential  to  the 
triitli  of  prophecy,  that  the  natin-al  events  spoken  of  should 
actually   be  performed.     In  general,  it  may  be  so  :   if  any 
man  can  prove  it  to  be   so  always,  we  can  have  no  objec- 
tion ;  since,  wherever   an  outward  fulfilment  takes  place, 
the  actual   occurrences   become,  themselves,  types   of  the 
same  spiritual  things  as  are  principally   referred  to  in  the 
words  of  the  prophecy.     But  if  the  divine  origin  of  pro- 
phecy can  still  be  maintained,  even  where  no  outward  ac- 
complishment of  it  can  be  satisfactorily  shewn,  the  author- 
ity of  Revelation   is  certainly  made  more  secure.     And  it 
is   well   known,  that   though   many   of  the  predictions  of 
Scripture  have  had  a  clear  outward  fulfilment  in  some  of 
their  leading  points,  yet  this  can  seldom  be  distinctly  traced 
through  the  subordinate  particulars  :   which   throws   over 
them  so  much   obscurity,  that  the  Infidel  finds  a  pretence 
for  rejecting  the  application  altogether.     Such  rejection  is 
certainly  unjust.     Many  Scripture  prophecies  have  had  so 
plain  an  outward  fulfilment   in  their  leading  points,  that, 
while  these  alone  are  regarded,  there   is  no  room  for  dis- 
pute :  the  conclusion  then  should  be,  that  the  particulars 
which  cannot  so  well  be  applied  to  outward  events,  are  at 
the  same  time  thrown  in,  not  to  invalidate  the  former,  but 
to  lead  to  the  inference;  that  spiritual  things,  of  far  higher 
moment,  are  referred  to  by  the  whole.     For  the  same  pur- 
pose, important  prophecies,  like  that  before  us,  occasional- 
ly occur,  to  which,  unless  we  allow  them  a  spiritual  sense, 
we   cannot  assign  any   consistent  sense   at  all.     Thus,  the 
whole  is  arranged  with  admirable  wisdom.     Many  predic- 
tions are  given,  which  have  had,  in  their  main  points,  so 
striking  an   outward  accomplishment,  as  is  calculated  to 
awaken  the   attention   even  of  tho?e  who  will  believe  no- 
34 


186  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

thino-  which  they  cannot  verify  by  their  outward  senses  ; 
and  upon  a  closer  inspection  other  parts  will  be  found  cal- 
culated to  raise  the  mind  to  more  elevated  contemplations, 
and  to  satisfy  the  understanding,  that  Divine  Prophecy 
has  higher  objects  than  to  announce  the  fate  of  nations,  or 
even  than,  by  such  marks  of  Omniscience,  to  evince  the 
divine  origin  of  Revelation. 

(2.)  That  the  prophecy  of  Ezekiel  before  us,  of  the  in- 
vasion of  the  Land  of  Israel  by  Gog  and  his  consequent 
destruction,  has  no  connexion  with  the  affairs  of  the  Israel- 
ites or  any  other  nations  in  particular,  thus  was  not  intend- 
ed to  have  any  outward  accomplishment,  is  evident  from 
the  parallel  passage  in  the  Revelation,  referred  to  in  the 
extract  above  given  from  Bishop  Lowth.  In  Ezekiel,  the 
irruption  of  Gog  is  described  as  taking  place,  when  the 
people  of  Israel,  having  returned  from  captivity,  are  en- 
joying their  country  in  peace  ; — "  It  is  brought  forth  out 
of  the  nations,  and  they  shall  dwell  safjiy  all  of  them  ;"* 
— "  Therefore,  son  of  man,  prophesy,  and  say  unto  Gog, 
Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  ;  In  that  day,  when  my  people 
of  Israel  dwelleth  safely,  shalt  thou  not  know  it  ?  And 
thou  shalt  come  from  thy  place  out  of  the  north  parts, 
thou,  and  many  people  with  thee,  all  of  them  riding  upon 
horses,  a  great  company  and  a  mighty  army  ;  and  thou 
shalt  come  up  against  my  pet  pie  of  Israel,  as  a  cloud  to 
cover  tlie  land  ;"f  &,c.  Very  similar  are  the  circumstances 
referred  to  in  the  parallel  passage  of  the  Revelation, 
though  they  are  there  described  under  very  different 
images.  An  interval  of  security  is  promised,  and  repre- 
sented as  a  period  in  which  the  martyrs  "  lived  and  reign- 
ed with  Christ  a  thousand  years  ;"|  after  which  the  despe- 
rate enemy  is  to  invade  Judjea  and  besiege  Jerusalem  : 
•'  And  when  the  thousand  years  are  expired,  Satan  shall 
be  loosed  out  of  prison,  and  shall  go  out  to   deceive  the 

*  Ezek.  xxxviii.  8.  t  Ver.  U,  15,  16.  |  Rev.  xx.  4. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  187 

nations  which  are  in  the  four  quarters  [corners]  of  the 
earth,  Gog  and  Magog,  to  gather  them  together  to  battle  ; 
the  number  of  whom  is  as  the  sand  of  the  sea.  And  they 
went  up  on  the  breadth  of  the  earth  [the  land  of  Israel,] 
and  compassed  the  camp  of  the  saints  about,  and  the  be- 
loved city  :  and  fire*  came  down  from  God  out  of  heaven, 
and  devoured  them."f  Now  it  is  perfectly  evident,  that 
the  latter  of  these  two  predictions  is  not  given  as  detailing 
occurrences  which  were  to  take  place  according  to  the 
letter.  Since  the  church  of  the  Lord,  instead  of  being 
confined,  as  under  the  Jewish  dispensation,  to  the  territory 
of  Palestine,  is  spread  over  a  great  portion  of  the  globe,  it 
is  impossible  for  its  members  to  be  surrounded  by  hordes  of 
barbarians  collected  from  "  the  four  corners,"  or  remotest 
extremities,  of  the  eaith,  and  to  be  shut  up  in  any  "  belov- 
ed city,"  in  the  land  of  Judasa  or  any  where  else.  The 
propiiecy,  doubtless,  must  be  fulfilled  ;  but  only  in  its 
spiritual  sense  can  it  be  fulfilled  :  of  course,  the  spiritual 
sense  only  is  that  which  is  intended.  And  what  other 
conclusion  can  be  drawn  respecting  the  parallel  prophecy 
of  Ezekiel,  the  main  circumstances  of  which  are  similar, 
though  more  particulars  are  detailed  ?  No  outward  fulfil- 
ment of  it  took  place,  between  the  period  in  which  it  was 
delivered  by  Ezekiel  and  that  in  which  the  Revelation  was 
given  to  John  ;  and  after  this  time,  no  other  fidfilinent  of 
it  was  practicable  than  such  as  was  alone  apj)lical)le,  to 
the  parallel  prediction  of  the  New  Testament  prophet  :  if, 
then,  tlie  one  was  never  intended  to  have  any  but  a  spirit- 
ual fulfilment,  so,  neither,  was  the  other.  (I  deem  it 
needless  to  notice  the  attempts  that  have  been  made  to 
find  a  solution  of  Ezekiel's  prediction  in  the  troubles 
which  the  Jews  experienced  from  the  Macedonian  kings 
of  Syria.  Gog  and  Magog,  who  inhabited,  according  to 
the  Revelation,  "  the  four  corners"  of  the  earth,  and,  ac- 

*  Compare  Ezek.  xxxviii.  22.  and  xxxix.  6.  t  Rev.  xx.  7,  8,  9. 


188  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

cording  to  Ezekiel,  "the  sides  of  the  north,"*  both  which 
phrases  are  evidently  designed  to  express  extreme  remote- 
ness, cannot  possibly  be  names  for  Syria,  the  immediate 
neighbour  of  Judaea  :  nor  was  any  attack  upon  Judsea  by 
the  Antiochi  attended  with  the  total  destruction  of  the  in- 
vading nation.  All  judicious  critics,  therefore,  with  Dr. 
Lowth.  reject  such  an  application  of  the  prophecy,  as 
totally  unworthy  of  its  majesty  and  importance.) 

(3.)   If  then  in  tliis  prophecy,  we  are  constrained  to  look 
for  a  spiritual  interpretation,  let  us  see   how  this  will  be 
developed  by  the  Science  of  Analogies.     The  Israelites,  as 
beino-  anciently  the  people  who  alone  possessed  a  know- 
ledge of  the  true  God,  were,  as  was  shewn  in  our  second 
Lecture  by  the  testimony  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  types  of 
the  true  Church  of  the  Lord,  and  of  its  true  members, 
under  every   dispensation  ;  and  the  land  they  inhabited 
evidently   had  a   similar   representation  :    the  land  itself 
represented  the  church  with  all  that  properly  belongs  to  it, 
in  regard  especially  to  the  graces  by  the  presence  of  which 
the  church  exists,  either  in  individuals  or  societies  ;  and 
its   metropolis,   Jerusalem,   also   represented  the  church, 
but  as  to  the  more  interior  and  immediate  abode  of  it  in 
the  human  mind  ;  whilst  the  temple  with  its  worship  were 
expressive  of  the   Lord's  presence,  and  communion  with 
him,  in  the  inmost  of  all.     Noav  if  the  land  of  Judaea  thus 
symbolizes  the  true  Church  and  all  the  graces  which  pro- 
perly constitute  it,  Analogy  must  lead  us  to  conclude,  that 
the  countries  around  it  represent  the  exterior  relations  of 
the    church, — which    are  such   general   principles  in  the 
mind  of  man  as  have  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  affinity 
with  those  which  are  constituent  of  the  church, — accord- 
ing as  they  are  nearer  to  the  land  of  Israel  or  farther  off 
from  it  :  and  those  which  were  most  remote  of  all,  must 
be  symbolic  of  such  principles  in  regard  to  religion  as  are 

*  Ch.  xxxjx.  2.  marffinal  translation. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  189 

most  gross  and  external, — most  distant  from  every  thing 
that  belongs  to  a  true  internal  cluircli.  But  the  apj)lica- 
tion  of  Analogy  to  the  formation  of  a  system  of  Spiritual 
Geography,  demands  a  more  exact  consideration. 

(4.)  The  mind  of  man  evidently  consists  of  a  great  num- 
ber of  afFectuous  and  intellectual  faculties  and  tendencie?, 
very  distinct  from  each  other.  The  love  of  God  and  our 
neighbour,  for  instance,  are  very  ditferent  principles  fiom 
the  love  of  v^rorldly  power  and  worldly  possessions  ;  and 
those  intellectual  exercises  which  are  conversant  with  di- 
vine and  heavenly  subjects,  no  less  vary  from  those  which 
are  confined  to  matters  of  a  corporeal  and  earthly  nature  : 
and  it  is  evidently  congenial  to  our  natural  feelings  and 
perceptions,  to  assign  to  the  former  of  each  of  these  classes 
of  sentiments,  a  higher  and  more  interior  seat  in  the  mind, 
than  to  the  latter  ;  Vve  acknowledge,  in  common  discourse, 
the  one  to  be  sublime  and  exalted  feelings  and  contempla- 
tions, the  other  to  be  such  as  are  low  and  grovelling. 
Nor  will  our  conceptions  on  this  subject  be  much  altered, 
whatever  may  be  the  theoretical  views  which  we  are  in- 
clined to  entertain  of  the  nature  of  the  mind.  If,  with  one 
class  of  metaphysicians,  Ave  believe  the  mind  to  be  one 
simple  principle,  the  whole  of  which  is  concerned  in  eve- 
ry one  of  its  exercises,  though  under  a  distinct  modifica- 
tion in  each  ;  then  we  must  consider  the  whole  mind, 
when  under  the  influence  of  heavenly  love  and  wisdom, 
to  be  in  a  sublime  and  exalted  state,  or  to  be  under  a 
modification  of  that  description  :  or  if,  with  others,  we 
conceive  the  mind,  like  the  body,  to  consist  of  a  great 
variety  of  organs,  each  having  its  proper  function  ;  then 
we  must  consider  those  which  are  the  seats  of  disinterested 
benevolence  and  of  the  perceptions  of  divine  and  heavenly 
subjects,  to  be  placed  in  an  elevated  and  interior  region, 
and  those  which  are  appropriated  to  grosser  tendencies 
and  mean  conceptions,  to  be  respectively  low  and  external. 
Our  observations  here  proceed  upon  the  sujiposition,  that 


190  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

the  latter  view  of  the  nature  of  the  mind  is  the  true  one  ; 
hut  we  have  mentioned  the  other  to  shew,  that,  should  the 
opinion  that  the  mind  is  one  simple  principle  be  correct, 
the  views  we  assume  of  the  higher  and  lower  nature  of  its 
various  emotions  and  contempLitions  wouhl  still  be  appli- 
cable to  it.  and  would  only  require  a  little  alteration  in 
the  mode  of  stating  them.  However,  let  us  suppose  the 
mind  itself  to  be  composed  of  distinct  organs,  appropriat- 
ed to  distinct  affections  and  distinct  classes  of  thought  : 
It  is  true  that  to  immaterial  principles  we  cannot  assign 
any  of  the  relations  of  space  or  place  ;  and  yet  it  is  certain 
that  we  are  so  sensible  of  the  existence  of  a  determinate 
analogy  between  these  and  the  immaterial  mind  and  its 
properties,  as  continually  to  apply  to  the  latter,  terms 
which  properly  denote  the  relations  of  place  ;  thus  we 
talk  of  a  great  mind  and  a  little  mind,  a  lofty  mind  and  a  loio 
mind  ;  of  elevated  desires  and  of  grovelling  ones,  of  high- 
thoughts  and  of  creeping  ones  ;  of  an  internal  and  deep  con- 
ception of  things,  or  of  an  external  and  superjicial  one  ;  we 
speak  also  oi provinces  of  mind,  and  realms  of  thought  :  and 
use  a  multitude  of  other  like  phrases. 

Suppose  then  that  we  possessed  a  knowledge  of  the 
general  principles,  both  voluntary  and  intellectual,  of 
which  the  mind  consists,  and  were  desirous  to  present 
them  more  distinctly  to  our  view,  by  describing  them  by 
some  of  the  ideas  borrowed  from  the  analogy,  which  we 
intuitively  perceive  to  subsist,  between  the  relations  of 
mind  and  the  relations  of  place  :  suppose,  as  mathemati- 
cians resort  to  diagrams  to  assist  their  conceptions  of  the 
relations  of  quantity,  we  even  wished  to  assist  our  concep- 
tions of  the  mind  by  some  sensible  delineation,  and  were 
to  conceive  the  thought  of  mapping  out  the  various  pro- 
vinces of  intellect  and  affection  which  we  perceive  to  exist 
in  it  : — how  should  we  commence  the  execution  of  the 
plan,  but  by  laying  down,  in  the  centi'e  of  our  schejne,  a 
region,  to  be   considered  as  representing  that  part  of  the 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  191 

mind  which  is  the  seat  of  the  most  exalted  affections  and 
sentiments,  being  thoi^e  which  have  for  their  objects  the 
topics  of  true  religion,  or  those  which  embrace  the  love 
and  vital  knowledge  of  God  ?  Should  we  not,  around  this 
central  region,  allot  various  districts,  to  represent  those 
parts  of  the  mind,  whose  functions  consist  of  attachments 
to  subordinate  objects  and  of  intellectual  exercises  of  an 
inferior  character  ?  And  should  we  not  place  in  the  cir- 
cumference of  our  map  of  that  "  little  world,"  or  micro- 
cosm, the  mind  of  man,  those  faculties,  botii  affect uous  and 
intellectual,  wliich,  though  still  belonging  to  the  mind, 
have  the  closest  affinity  with  the  body,  and  partake  the 
least  of  any  thing  of  a  purely  spiritual  nature, — being  such 
as  belong  to  the  province  of  merely  corporeal  sensations, 
and  of  ideas  of  such  things  as  either  afford  no  room,  or 
are  too  grossly  apprehended  to  give  occasion,  for  the  exer- 
cise of  the  higher  intellectual  powers  ?  Such,  certainly, 
would  be  our  mode  of  proceeding,  Avere  we  to  attempt 
to  draw  a  map  of  the  mind,  by  following  out  the  analogy 
which  every  one  perceives  to  exist  between  the  relations 
of  mind  and  the  relations  of  place. 

Such  a  map,  then,  is  ready  drawn  to  our  hands  by  the 
Spirit  of  God, — to  whom  alone  the  analogies  between 
natural  and  spiritual  things  of  all  kinds  are  fully  known, 
— in  the  geography  of  the  Scriptures.  In  this  map,  the 
land  of  Israel  is  considered  as  the  central  reg-ion  wliich  is 
the  seat  of  all  the  truly  spiritual  affections  and  perceptions 
of  the  human  mind  :  (and  hence  was  derived  the  notion  of 
the  Jews,  that  their  country  constituted  the  middle  of  the 
earth's  surface  ; — an  opinion  which  was  true  in  spiritual 
though  not  in  physical  geography  : — and  a  similar  tEans- 
ferring,  by  them,  of  ideas  which  are  true  in  a  spiritual 
sense,  to  a  natural  application  in  which  they  are  false,  has 
given  rise  to  many  of  that  people's  absurd,  superstitious 
opinions  and  piactices,  the  origin  of  which  would  be  oth- 
erwise unaccountable.)      So,  following  the  law  of  Analogy, 


192 


PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 


the  countries  situated  around  the  land  of  Canaan,  'will 
represent  the  subordinate  mental  powers  and  faculties. 
We  will  illustrate  this  by  one  or  two  examples. 

The  crreat  neighbour  of  Israel — the  type  of  the  spiritual 
part  of  the  mind, — on  one  side,  was  Egypt  ;  which  repre- 
sents what  belongs  entirely  to  the  natural  man,  but,  specifi- 
cally, the  Science  or  Knowledge  of  the  natural  man,  with 
the  faculty  for  acquiring  it  :  and  the  powerful  state  which 
bordered  upon   Israel   on    the    other   side,   was   Assyria  ; 
which  represents  the  Rational  Faculty,  and  the  Reasoning 
Powers,  in  general.     Now  as  Science  and  Reasoning,  when 
separated  from  all  regard  to  religion,  or  to  true  religion, 
and  placed  in  opposition  to  it,  are  two  of  its  most  dange- 
rous enemies  ;  therefore  we  read  so  much  of  the  troubles 
which  these  two  nations  brought  upon  the  Israelites  :  but 
as,  nevertheless,  they  are  capable  of  being  rendered  ex- 
tremely serviceable  to  true  reliffion,   and  are  themselves 
exalted  by  being  submitted  to  its   influence  ;  therefore  we 
meet  with  predictions  of  a  state  in  which  this  union  should 
be  effected.     Thus  it  is  said  in  Isaiah,   "  In  that  day  there 
shall  be  an  altar  to  the  Lord  in  the  midst   of  the   land   of 
Egypt,  and  a  pillar  at  tlie  border  thereof  to  the  Lord  ;"* 
words  which  plainly  indicate  the  complete  submission  to  a 
divine   influence,    of  the   principle,  power,  or  faculty,  re- 
presented by  Egypt,  from  its  inmost  essence — "  the  midst" 
— to  its  last  extremity — "  the  border  thereof."     And  that 
this  sliall  be  closely  connected  with  the  principle,  power, 
or  faculty,  represented  l)y  Assyria,  which  shall  be  submit- 
ted, with  it,  to  the  divine  government,  is  presently  taught 
in  these  words  :  "  In  that  day  there  shall   be  a  highway 
out  of  Egypt  to  Assyria  ;  and  the  Assyrian  shall  come  into 
Egypt,  and  the  Egyptian  into  Assyria  :  and  the  Egyptians 
shall   serve    with   the  Assyrians."*     And  again,  that  both 
shall  be  united  with  the  principle  represented  by  Israel,  is 

■  Isaiah  xix.  19.  t  Ver.  23. 


THE    SCRIPTUEES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  19S 

beautifully  expressed  when  it  is  immediately  added,  "  In 
that  day  shall  Israel  be  the  third  with  Egypt  and  with 
Assyria,  a  blessing  in  the  midst  of  the  land  :"*  wheie  the 
third  means  that  which  completes  and  adds  perfection, — 
the  number  three,  so  generally  considered  to  involve  a 
mystery,  denoting  that  which  is  complete  and  perfect  ; 
for  which  reason  it  is  also  said,  that  Israel  shall  be  a  bless- 
ing in  the  midst  of  the  land  ;  implying,  that  the  principle 
represented  by  Israel  should  become  a  centre, — a  sort  of 
life-giving  essence, — to  the  other  two  ;  as  is  the  case  with 
the  principle  of  true  religion,  when  the  mind  is  in  its  pro- 
per order  throughout.  This  also  is  one  of  the  predictions 
of  Scrij^ture,  of  which  no  outward  fulfilment,  at  all  ade- 
quate to  the  terms  of  it,  can  be  pointed  out  ;  for  to  refer 
it,  as  is  done  by  Bishop  Newton  and  others,  to  the  propa- 
gation of  Judaism  in  Egypt  and  Assyria,  in  consec|uence  of 
the  dispersion  and  captivities  of  the  Jews  in  those  coun- 
tries, is  merely  to  trifle  with  words  so  august  and  solemn. 
And  if  this  prophecy  has  received  no  outward  fulfilment 
heretofore,  the  altered  state  of  the  world  certainly  renders 
it  impossible  that  it  should  receive  such  an  accomplish- 
ment hereafter.  But  we  shall  have  a  view  which  well 
harmonizes  with  the  expressions,  and  rises  out  of  them  by 
a  just  analogy,  if  we  understand  them  spiritually,  as 
pointing  to  the  union,  in  a  glorious  state  of  the  church,  of 
the  three  great  orders  or  degrees  of  the  intellectual  pow- 
ers. In  this  view,  Egypt  is  the  lowest  of  these  powers, — 
the  Science  or  Knowledge  of  the  natural  man, — or  such  as 
chiefly  arises  from  the  exercise  of  the  faculty  which  the 
metaphysicians  call  simple  perception  : — Assyria  is  a  high- 
er intellectual  power, — that  which  reflects  and  reasons, — 
or  the  Intelligence  which  results  from  the  exercise  of  the 
faculties  of  analysis  and  comparison  ; — whilst  Israel  is  the 
supreme   intellectual   power   of  all, — the  Wisdom  Mdiich 

**  Ver.  24. 

25 


194  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

connects  all  with  God,  and  contemplates,  with  interior 
discernment,  spiritual  and  divine  subjects,  which  it  ap- 
plies, causing  the  lower  attainments  also  to  be  applied,  to 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  benefit  of  mankind.  And  if  we 
consider  these  three  orders  of  intellectual  powers  to  have 
three  distinct  provinces  of  the  mind  appropriated  to  them 
as  their  seats,  we  shall  see  why  they  are  represented  by 
the  three  countries  of  Egypt,  Assyria,  and  Israel  ; — such 
representation  following  accurately  the  Law  of  that  Analo- 
gy, which,  we  have  before  seen,  we  all  intuitively  recog- 
nise, between  the  relations  of  mind  and  the  relations  of 
place. 

To  prove  that  such  is   the  signification  in  the  Scriptures 
of  these  three  countries,  would  require  a  consideration  of 
the  numerous  occasions  on  which  they  are  mentioned  :  it 
would  then  appear  with   clearness  from  the  significant  at- 
tributes and  actions  ascribed  to  them  respectively  :    But 
this  would  detain  us  too  long,  and  is  also  not  necessary  for 
our  present  object,  which  is  merely  to  shew,  that  certain 
faculties  or  provinces  of  the  mind  are  meant  by  the  coun- 
tries mentioned  in  the  Holy  Word,without  determining  that 
which  is  specifically  intended  by  each :  and  this,  I  trust,  must 
be  pretty  evident,  in  regard  to  the  countries  of  Egypt,  Assy- 
ria, and  Israel,  whether  the  explanations  which  hav6  been 
attempted  be  altogether  accepted  or  not.     But  I  think  that 
not  much  doubt  will  remain,  even  here,  with  any  inquirer, 
who  will  take  the  pains  to  make  an  extensive  examination 
of  the  passages  where  they  are  mentioned.     Let  him  un- 
derstand by  Egj'^pt,  when  spoken  of  unfavourably,  those 
fallacies  and  appearances,  with   which   Science,  when  not 
cultivated  from  pure  motives,  opposes  the  doctrines  of 
true  religion;  (but  under  the  name  of  Science  is  here  to  be 
understood,  not  only  the  knowledge  of  natural  things,  but 
an  aciquaintance  also  with  the  literal  sense  of  the  Word  of 
God,  from  which,  when  separated  from  all  connexion  with 
its  spirit,  confirmations,  as  is  well  known,  may  and  have 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  196 

been  drawn,  in  favour  of  the  most  erroneous  reliffious  sen- 
timents,  and  in  opposition  to  the  most  evident  truths;)  so, 
by  Egypt,  when  not  unfavourably  mentioned,  are  to  be 
understood  the  views  of  true  Science, — natural  truths  in 
general,  both  those  drawn  from  the  appearances  of  nature 
and  those  from  the  literal  sense  of  the  Word  : — Let  our 
inquirer,  also,  understand  by  Assyria,  when  spoken  of  with 
censure,  that  intellectual  principle  which  appears  like  in- 
telligence, but  is  mere  adroitness  in  reasoning,  or  dexterity 
in  managing  a  debate,  independently  of  tiie  truth  or  false- 
hood of  the  premises  assumed  ; — or,  when  it  is  mentioned 
with  approbation,  that  intelligence  which  results  from  the 
right  exercise  of  the  rational  faculty: — And  let  him  regard 
both  the  principle  of  Science  and  the  Rational  principle, 
as  occupying  distinct  provinces  of  the  mind,  and  consider 
these  provinces  to  be  what  are  specifically  meant  by  the 
realms  of  Egypt  and  Assyria.  Whoever  does  this,  will 
find  a  coherent  and  beautiful  spiritual  sense  arise,  in  every 
instance  where  those  countries  are  mentioned  ;  provided 
he  has  some  idea  of  the  spiritual  reference  of  the  other  na- 
tural images  with  which  they  are  accompanied,  which  will 
always  be  found  exactly  to  harmonize  with  this  significa- 
tion of  the  countries.* 

*  I  am  not  sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  science,  as  it  is  called,  of  Phre- 
nology, to  form  any  decided  opinion  of  the  solidity  of  its  pretensions:  Even 
fihould  its  general  principles  be  true,  I  should  apprehend  that  many  mistakes 
must  for  a  long  time  be  expected  to  accompany  the  attempts  to  follow  them 
out  into  their  various  ramifications  :  But  I  cannot  dismiss  the  subject  before  us 
without  observing,  that  I  was  lately  much  struck,  on  looking  into  the  transac- 
tions of  the  Phrenological  Society  of  Edinburgh,  with  the  extraordinary  coin- 
cidence of  their  description  of  the  organs  which  they  consider  to  be  seated  in 
the  fore  part  of  the  brain,  with  the  idea  which  I  had  formed  of  the  signification, 
in  Scripture,  of  the  countrieB  of  Egypt,  Assyria,  and  Israel.  Their  account  of 
the  functions  of  the  organ  which  they  denominate  "  Individuality,"  and  of  their 
*'  Knowing  Faculties"  in  general,  is  exactly  that  which  appears  to  belong  to 
the  "  land  of  Egypt,"  considered  as  the  symbol  of  a  certain  province  of  the 
mind  :  their  organs  of  "  Comparison"  and  "  Causality,"  or  their  "  Reflecting 
Faculties"  in  general,  answer,  with  equal  accuracy,  to  the  Scriptural  "  land  of 
Assyria  ;"  and  their  "  Veneration"  and  "  Benevolence  '  as  certainly  belong  to 


196  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

(5.)  I  have  dwelt  at  some  length  on  this  part  of  our  sub- 
ject, because,  perhaps,  nothing  connected  with  the  spiritu- 
al interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  appears  more  questiona- 
ble at  first,  than  the  assertion,  that  all  the  countries  men- 
tioned in  the  Word  of  God,  designate  certain  faculties  or 
principles  in  the  human  mind  ;  Avhen  yet,  on  the  idea  be- 
ing examined,  it  must  be  seen,  that  tiie  analogy  which  it 
supposes, — that  between  the  relations  of  mind  and  the  re- 
lations of  place, — is  one  of  those,  of  which  we  have  the 
clearest  intuitive  perception,  and  from  which  we  draw  se- 
veral phrases  in  common  discourse.  All  the  difficulties  then 
that  can  afterwards  arise,  in  determining  what  mental  fa- 
culties are  represented  by  the  various  countries  spoken  of 
in  the  Scriptures,  will  be  owing  to  our  imperfect  know- 
ledge of  what  the  faculties  of  the  mind  really  are,  and 
what  are  their  distinguishing  characteristics,  and  relative 
dignity.  But  these  difficulties  can  only  attach  to  the  coun- 
tries intermediate  in  their  situation  between  Judgea  and  the 
most  remote  realms  that  are  mentioned:  of  these  latter,  the 
signification  will  be  obvious.  These,  then,  we  have  al- 
ready seen,  are  those  which  are  called,  in  the  prophecy  of 
Ezekiel  before  us,  and  in  the  corresponding  prediction  of 
the  Revelation,  the  land  of  Gog  and  Magog, — a  region  si- 
tuated in  "  the  corners  of  the  earth,"  in  "  the  sides  of  the 
north  :" — which  are  emphatic  descriptions  of  extreme  re- 
moteness.    Apply  this  description  to  the  mind  ;  and  what 

the  "  land  of  Israel."  I  am  therefore  thoroughly  convinced,  that,  in  their  ac- 
counts of  these  "  organs,"  they  exhibit  a  correct  conception  of  certain  decided 
faculties  or  provinces  of  the  mind,  whether  the  parts  of  the  brain  in  which  they 
suppose  these  to  be  located  during  their  connexion  with  the  body,  be  accurate- 
ly determined,  or  capable  of  being  determined,  or  not.  Should,  then,  future 
observations  confirm  their  discoveries  in  the  main,  only  correcting  what  may 
at  present  be  erroneous ;  instead  of  apprehending  from  the  establishment  of 
their  science  consequences  injurious  to  the  belief  of  the  Scriptures,  we  may 
hope  to  find  in  it  additional  means  of  confirming  their  plenary  inspiration. 
Assuredly,  a  strong  confirmation  of  this  is  afforded,  when  the  same  truths  are 
brought  to  light  by  Science,  as  had  long  before  been  assumed  by  Revelation, 
as  the  basis  of  its  inatructioni. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  197 

province  of  it  can  be  intended,  but  that  which  is  the  most 
external,  and  which  borders  most  closely  upon  the  corpo- 
real sensations, — that,  whote  feelings  are  tlie  most  gross, 
and  whose  perceptions  are  the  most  obscure  ? — When  we 
say  obscure^  we  mean,  compared  with  those  which  partake 
of  the  light  of  true  wisdom  :  To  itself  they  may  appear 
very  lucid:  as,  doubtless,  appears  tlie  obscurity  of  night  to 
the  owl,  whose  organs  of  vision  cannot  bear  the  brightness 
of  day. 

Now  suppose  the  degree  of  intellect  hence  resulting  to 
exercise  itself  upon  the  subject  of  religion,  and,  with  a  ge- 
neral acknowledgment  of  its  reality,  to  undertake  tlie  defi- 
nition of  its  nature  :  What  sort  of  a  theological  system 
would  be  the  result  ?  Would  it  not,  while  it  accepted  the 
most  general  truths  of  religion,  understand  them  in  the 
most  superficial  manner,  and,  while  it  adhered  to  the  form, 
neglect  the  substance, — while  it  was  occupied  about  the 
body,  disregard  the  soul  ?  We  will  take  two  or  three  ex- 
amples. 

It  is  a  most  general  truth  of  religion,  that  God  is  to  be 
worshipped  :  would  not  Gog,  (allow,  if  you  please,  this 
term  to  stand  as  the  expression,  like  an  algebraic  sign,  of 
the  principle  which  we  have  defined  ;  and  let  us  designate 
bv  this  name  the  man  whose  leading  character  is  formed 
by  that  principle: — would  not  Gog)  reduce  his  worship  to 
mere  external  observances,  regardless  of  the  inward  feel- 
ings which  alone  render  external  worship  acceptable  to  the 
Divine  Nature  ?  It  is,  again,  a  still  more  general  truth  of 
religion  that  there  is  a  God  :  would  not  Gog  regard  his 
Deity  as  a  being  of  like  passions  with  himself  ;  good  hu- 
moured when  pleased,  revengeful  when  offended  ;  a  com- 
pound of  good  and  bad  passions,  and  capricious  in  the  in- 
dulgence of  both  ?  If  Gog  were  a  Jew,  and  expected  the 
coming  of  a  Messiah,  as  the  Redeemer  of  Israel;  would  he 
not  look  for  a  mighty  concpieror,  who  should  deliver  the 
nation  from  a  foreign  yoke,  and   restore  in   greater  spleu- 


19S  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

dour  than  ever  the  kingdom  of  David  ;  without  admitting 
the  thought  of  a  spiritual  redemption  by  him,  or  being 
willing  to  believe  that  his  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world  ? 
If  Gog  were  a  Christian,  and  believed  that  the  Messiah  had 
come  to  institute  a  new  religion;  would  he  not  be  disposed 
to  entertain  the  idea,  that  the  Saviour  is  nothing  more 
than  a  man,  not  differing  from  other  men  in  nature,  though 
appointed  to  a  high  office  by  God  ?  Whether  Jew  or 
Christian,  would  he  not,  at  the  idea  of  a  miraculous  con- 
ception, exclaim,  with  Mary,  before  she  was  fully  instruct- 
ed by  the  angel,  "  How  shall  this  be  ?"* — without  credit- 
ing the  statement  of  the  fact,  as  she  did,  and  so  acquiring 
an  interest  in  the  divinely  inspired  declaration,  "  Blessed 
is  she  that  believed?"!  And  would  he  not,  with  the  Jews, 
on  hearing  the  assertion  from  the  lips  of  Jesus,  "  I  and  my 
Father  are  One,"|  "  take  up  stones  to  stone  him;"§  as  far, 
at  least,  as  that  can  be  done  by  hard,  contradicting  speech- 
es,— by  contending  that  such  words  are  not  to  be  under- 
stood in  a  strict  and  proper  sense,  or  in  any  sense  which 
will  not  include  in  the  affirmation  all  good  men?  To  put 
a  final  case  :  If  Gog  were  a  believer  in  the  Scriptures  ge- 
nerally, and  lived  in  a  philosophic  age  ;  would  he  not  re- 
duce the  scale  of  their  inspiration  to  as  low  a  standard  as 
is  consistent  witli  any  belief  that  they  contain,  in  any  man- 
ner a  revelation  from  God  ?  Would  he  not  regard  them, 
chiefly  as  merely  human  compositions,  and  confine  the 
subjects  of  them,  as  far  as  possible,  to  natural  concurrences? 
from  which,  also,  he  would  gladly  exclude  any  divine  in- 
terposition, resolving  even  the  miracles,  wherever  he  could 
find  a  pretence,  into  the  ojieration  of  natural  causes. 
Thus,  would  he  not  adhere,  mainly,  to  "the  letter  wliich 
kiileth,"  and  shut  out  altogether  "  the  spirit  which  giveth 
life  ?"  In  short,  in  every  thing  connected  with  religious 
faith  and  worship,  wovdd  not  Gog  choose  that  which  is 
low  and  grovelling,  external   and  superficial,  and  reject 

-  Luke  i.  34.  i  Vcr.  45.  |  John  x.  30.  §   Vcr.  31. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  199 

that  which  is  elevated  and  soaring,  internal  and  profound? 
Would  he  not  "  fill  his  belly  with  the  husks  that  the  swine 
do  eat,"*  and,  with  the  swine,  "  trample  the  pearls  under 
his  feet  ?"t  Nor  would  any  part  of  this  character  be  in- 
compatible with  great  attainments  in  erudition  ;  since  it  is 
well  known  that  the  finer  powers  of  the  mind  are  not  un- 
frequently  buried  under  the  dust  of  learning  ;  and  that 
there  is,  in  the  eflforts  of  literature,  the  bathos  as  well  as  the 
sublime.  The  poet  did  not  go  out  of  nature  when  he  de- 
scribed his  king  of  the  dunces  as 

'*  Sinking  from  thought  to  thought :  a  vast  profound .'" 

Such  then  being  the  character  of  mind  represented  by 
Gog  and  Magog,  and  such  the  influence  which  its  prepon- 
derance would  have  upon  religion,  how  easy  is  it  to  see 
that  the  predictions  by  Ezekiel  and  the  Revelator,  of  inva- 
sions by  them  of  the  land  of  Israel,  must  refer  to  the  efforts 
of  such  a  principle,  and  of  those  who  are  in  it,  to  degrade 
religion,  in  faith  and  worship,  into  a  conformity  with  the 
above  ideas  !  Yea,  is  it  not  also  intimated,  from  the  par- 
tial and  temporary  success  spoken  of  as  attending  the  en- 
terprise of  the  invaders,  that,  for  a  time,  such  ideas  of  re- 
ligion would  be  extremely  prevalent,  and  would  be  urged 
with  a  confidence  by  which  many  would  be  seduced  ? 
This  is  clearly  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  predictions  :  in 
this  sense,  then,  have  they  ever  been  accomplished  ? 

Most  evidently,  the  prophecy  of  Ezekiel  was  accom- 
plished among  the  Jews  about  the  time  of  the  Lord's  ap- 
pearance in  tlie  flesh.  In  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  the 
Pharisees,  we  behold  that  complete  separation  of  every 
thing  that  is  external  in  religion  from  all  that  is  internal, 
and  that  destruction  of  the  latter  by  the  former,  of  which 
Gog,  when  he  appears  in  the  character  of  an  invader  of 
Israel,  is  the  appropriate  type.  The  church  among  the 
Jews,  was,  indeed,  always  of  an  external  character,  con- 

*  Luke  XV.  16.  f  Matt.  vii.  6. 


1^00  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

sisting  chiefly  in  outward  rites  of  which  the  true  import 
was  not  discerned  :  yet,  doubtless,  while  that  church  re- 
mained unperverted,  the  internal  things  of  which  their  ri- 
tuals were  types,  were  obscurely  felt  among  them,  though 
not  clearly  perceived  :  though  unknown,  they  were  not 
denied  :  but  when  elaborate  systems  of  doctrines  and  pre- 
cepts were  invented,  as  was  done  by  the  Pharisees,  the  ob- 
ject of  which  was  to  persuade  the  people  that  they  became 
holy  by  an  attention  to  external  observances  alone,  then 
was  the  internal  essence  of  religion  entirely  destroyed  by 
its  outward  appearances,  and  Gog  indeed  "  came  up  against 
Israel,  as  a  cloud,  to  cover  the  land."*  Accordingly,  we 
find,  that  the  reproofs  which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ad- 
dressed to  the  Jews,  chiefly  ran  upon  this  separation  of 
the  forms  of  religion  from  its  vital  principles,  and  upon 
the  suff'ocation  by  the  former  of  the  latter.  "  He  answer- 
ed and  said  unto  them.  Well  hath  Esaias  prophesied  of 
you,  hypocrites  ;  as  it  is  written.  This  people  honoureth 
me  with  their  lips,  but  their  heart  is  far  from  me. — Full 
well  ye  reject  the  commandment  of  God,  that  ye  may  keep 
your  own  tradition  :  for  Moses  said,  Honour  thy  father 
and  thy  mother  ; — but  ye  say,  If  a  man  shall  say  to  his 
father  or  his  mother.  It  is  Corban,  that  is  to  say,  a  gift 
[consecrated  to  God]  by  whatsoever  thou  mightest  be  pro- 
fited by  me,  he  shall  be  free  ;  and  ye  suffer  him  no  more 
to  do  ought  for  his  father  or  his  mother  ;  making  the 
word  of  God  of  none  effect  through  your  tradition  which 
ye  have  delivered  :  and  many  such  like  things  ye  do."f 
So  the  awful  denunciations  against  the  scribes  and  Phari- 
sees in  the  twenty-third  chapter  of  Matthew,  all  turn  upon 
the  same  point, — the  destruction  of  the  internal  essence  of 
religion  by  substituting  its  externals  in  its  place  :  "  Woe 
unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  !  for  ye  de- 
vour widows'  houses,  and  for  a  pretence   make  long  pray- 

'  Ezek.  xxxviii.  IG.  t  Mark  vii.  6  to  13. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &iC.  201 

ers  :"  "  Woe  unto  you,  ye  blind  guides,  whicli  say,  who- 
soever shall  swear  by  the  temple,  it  is  nothing  ;  but  who- 
soever shall  swear  by  the  gold  of  the  temple,  he  is  a  debt- 
or :"  "  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  ! 
for  ye  pay  tythes  of  mint,  and  anise,  and  cummin,  and  have 
omitted  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law,  judgment,  mercy 
and  faith  :"  "  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypo- 
crites !  for  ye  make  clean  the  outside  of  the  cup  and  of  the 
platter,  but  within  they  are  full  of  extortion  and  excess."* 
So,  all  the  other  marks  of  the  character  which  we  have 
above  defined  as  that  of  Gog,  as  connected  with  religion, 
were  exemplified  in  these  perverters  of  religion.  Nor  did 
their  notion  that  the  Scriptures  were  replete  with  mys- 
teries, at  all  contradict  the  gross  ideas  of  the  Word  of  God 
which  they  who  are  represented  by  Gog  would  entertain. 
They  took  this  general  belief  from  those  who  had  a  tradi- 
tionary knowledge  of  the  fact  :  but  the  mysteries  they  pre- 
tended to  find  in  the  law,  were  of  any  but  a  spiritual  na- 
ture :  they  consisted  of  the  most  idle  puerilities,  all  calcu- 
lated to  flatter  their  own  pride  ;  such  as,  instead  of  fulfil- 
ling the  law,  in  the  sense  which,  in  our  second  Lecture,  we 
shewed  to  belong  to  that  phrase, — that  is,  filling  it  with 
heavenly  ideas  relating  to  the  love  of  God  and  man, — emp- 
tied it  of  every  thing  of  such  a  character,  and  made  even 
the  most  express  injunctions  of  its  letter  compatible  with 
habits  the  most  selfish  and  profane. 

If  then  Gog,  or  Gog  and  Magog,  represent  a  character 
and  state  of  mind  of  the  most  gross  and  external  descrip- 
tion ;  if  the  invasion  by  them  of  the  land  of  Israel  typifies 
the  introduction  of  persuasions  originating  in  such  a  state 
of  mind  into  every  thing  connected  with  religion,  till  the 
church  is  entirely  overrun,  and  all  its  doctrines,  with  all  its 
worship,  acquire  an  external  character,  entirely  separated 
from,  and  in  opposition  to,  the  internal  qualities  without 
which  they  are  nothing  ;  and  if  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  de- 

'  Vof.  14,  16,  23.  2r.. 


202  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

clares  that   such  was  the  state  of  the   church   among  the 
Jews  when  he  was  on  earth  : — then  had   the    prophecy  of 
Ezekiel    upon  the  subject   at  that    time  received  its  fulfil- 
ment.    But  the  instruction  which  it  conveys  is  not  thereby 
rendered  obsolete,   as  would  be  the  case   if  it    related   to 
merely  natural  events,  and  had  been  fulfilled  by  an  invasion 
of  hostile  armies  :  but  it  will  for  ever    continue  to  teach 
mankind,  what  is  tiie  proper  character  of  the   gross  con- 
ceptions  of  the   natural   man,  when   not  rectified  by  the 
influence  of  the  spiritual  ;  and  what    are  the   deplorable 
consequences,  when  man  yields  to  the  suggestions  of  the 
most  external  part  of  his  mental   constitution    alone,  and 
draws   thence    his  conclusions  on  the  subject   of  leligion. 
Of  this,  in  the  case  of  individuals,    there   is  danger   at  all 
times.     We  all  must  be  sensible,  that  there  is  in  our  consti- 
tution the  principle  of  which  Gog  and  Magog  are  the  sym- 
bols,— a  principle  by  which  we  first  become   conscious  of 
impressions  that  come  from  without,  and  which,  if  not  sub- 
mitted to  the  control  of  an  enlightened  intellectual  facul- 
ty, might  even  lead  to  the  persuasion  that   nothing    is  real 
but  sense  and  nature  ;  it  would   therefore   be  well   if  we 
would  profit  by  the  warning  which  this  prophecy  affords, 
and  take  care  how  we  suffer   such    a  principle  to  lift  itself 
out  of  its  place.     There  is  in  it  a  tendency  to  usurpation. 
Sense  is  ever  disposed  to  exalt  herself  above  Reason,  and 
f  ilsely  to  arrogate  her  name  :  and  then    Religion  is  either 
banished   altogether,    or  compelled  to  assume  a  disguise 
ihat  hides  her  beauty,  and   dee^troys  her  benefits.     In   the 
last  extreme,  atheism  is  tlie  result. 

But  if  the  prophecy  by  Ezekiel  of  the  invasion  of  Gog 
and  Magog  received  its  general  fulfilment  in  the  state  of 
tlie  Jewish  Church  at  the  time  of  the  Lord's  appearing  in 
the  world,  we  see  that  the  parallel  prediction  of  John  must 
refer  to  a  different  event  in  the  spiritual  history  of  man- 
kind, and  cannot  as  Bishop  Lowth  supposes,  mean  exactly 
the  same  :  which  supposition  degrades,  besides,  the  Divine 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    S:C.  203 

Word,  with  the  imputation  of  repetition  and   tautology. 
The  general  signification  of  Gog  and  Magog,  and  of  their 
invasion  of  the  land  of  the  saints,  must  be,  indeed,  the  same 
as  before  ;  but  two  distinct  irru})tions  of  the  princij)le  are 
certainly  intended  :  if  then  the  first  of  them  took  place  in 
the  last  perversion  of  the  Israeiitish  dispensation,  when  are 
we  to  look  for  the  second  ?     Are  corruptions  of   tliis   de- 
plorable kind,    ever  to  overtake    the    profession  of  Chris- 
tianity ?     Alarming  as  is  the  thought,    it  seems  impossible 
to  doubt  that  this  is  pointed   to  in    the    prediction  of  the 
Revelation.     If  we  admit  the   communication    to  proceed 
from  the  Divine  Prescience,  we  must  expect  such  an  event. 
Again  will  men  look  at  religion  under  the  influence  of  the 
most  external  province  of  the  mind  :  again  will  they  sepa- 
rate the  conclusions   which   this    suggest?,   from  the  more 
enlightened  sentiments  which  would  be  dictated  by  the  in- 
ternal man  :  and  the  consequence  again  will  be,  that,  while 
some  will  glory  in  the  avowal  of  the  most  audacious  infi- 
delity, extended  even    to    the    self- worship  of  atheism,  a 
greater  number,  not  venturing  to  deny  religion  altogether, 
will  lower  down  its  duties  and  its    doctrines   to    an  agree- 
ment with  the  suggestions  of  the  lowest  part  of  their  nature ; 
that,  deeming  the  vividness  with  which  they  conceive  their 
sentiments  to  be  a  certain  mark  of  their  truth,   (though  it 
is  only  a  consequence  of  the  proximity  of  the  province  of 
the  mind  in  which  such  persons  think,  to  the  senses  of  the 
body,)  and  shutting  out    the  admission   of  any  light  from 
above,  even  till  they  doubt  the  reality  of  every  thing  of  a 
spiritual  nature,    they  will    rush    eagerly  to  battle  against 
those  who  affirm  that  reality,   strong    in    the  conceit  that 
their  arguments  are   invincible.     But  when    will   this  de- 
plorable visitation  take  place  ?     Have  any  symptoms  of  its 
commencement    yet    appeared  ?     These  are    questions  of 
deep  concernment  to  every  christian  ;  but  to  attempt  their 
solution  would  carry  us   too   far.     The  consideration  of 
tliem  must  be  left  to  those  who  feel   sufficiently  interested 


204  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

in  the  subject  to  pursue  it  farther  :  and  the  way  to  decide 
them  will  be,  to  reflect  maturely  on  the  nature  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  which  Gog  and  Magog  are  types,  and  of  its  natu- 
ral influence,  when  made  the  arbiter  of  religious  sentiment  ; 
and  then  to  examine  what  marks  of  this  influence  are  dis- 
cernible in  the  opinions  and  controversies  which  make  a 
noise  in  the  Christian  world,  and  which  divide  the  minds 
of  men  on  the  subject  of  religion. 

(6.)  We  have  pursued  to  some  extent  the  ideas  suggest- 
ed by  the  prophecies  respecting  Gog  and  Magog,  because, 
as  observed  above  respecting  all  such  prophecies  as  do  not 
admit  of  an  outward  accomplishment,  they  are  so  well 
adapted  to  lead  to  a  just  conception  of  the  nature  of  the 
Prophetic  Word  in  general  ;  and  because  these  predic- 
tions, in  particular,  eminently  tend  to  illustrate  that  great 
portion  of  the  Prophetic  Word,  which  seems  to  treat,  in 
its  letter,  of  particular  countries  and  nations.  If  some  of 
the  predictions  of  this  kind  are  such  as  never  could  have 
been  intended  to  receive  a  literal  fulfilment  ;  it  is  evident 
that  they  must  contain  a  spiritual  sense,  and  that,  when 
they  were  given,  a  spiritual  fulfilment  was  the  only  one 
contemplated  by  their  Divine  Author  :  and  if  the  Scrip- 
tures ate  written  upon  a  uniform  and  orderly  plan, — as 
they  must  be,  if  they  are  inspired  by  a  God  of  order, — 
then  must  a  spiritual  fulfilment  of  divine  prophecy  have 
been  that  which  was  chiefly  intended,  in  every  part  of  it  ; 
although  some  parts  of  it  were  such  as  admitted,  and  re- 
ceived, a  general  outward  accomplishment  likewise.  If 
there  are  any  parts  of  it,  which,  though  they  all  contain  a 
double  sense,  were  not  designed  to  have  a  double  fulfil- 
ment ; — in  which  sense,  be  it  asked,  is  their  fulfilment  na- 
turally to  be  looked  for, — in  that  which  is  primary,  or  in 
that  which  is  secondary  .''  If  the  spiritual  accomplishment, 
"  though  not  the  first,  [as  to  time,]  was  the  principal^  thing 
in  the  prophcfs  view  ;"  and  yet  the  prediction  was  of  such 
a  nature,  that,  whatever  the  prophet  might  have  understood 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  205 

by  it,  it  only  admitted  of  a  fulfilment  in  one  sense  ; — 
which  must  have  been  the  fulfilment  regarded  by  the  In- 
spirer  of  the  prophet  ?  Tlie  question  admits  of  but  one  an- 
swer. And  it  is  equally  evident,  that  if  the  prophecies 
have  a  spiritual  sense  any  lohere,  and  this  is  the  principal 
sense,  they  must  have  it  every  where.  But  the  literal  sense 
being  thus  a  mere  vehicle  for  the  conveyance  of  the  spirit- 
ual, may  either  be  outwardly  fulfilled  or  not,  as  the  plans 
of  Providence  may  render  expedient.  To  communicate 
the  s|»iritual  sense,  the  literal  sense  is  indispensable  :  but 
to  the  spiritual  fulfilment,  the  literal  fulfilment  is  entirely 
urmecessary.  When,  also,  an  outward  accomplishment  of 
prophecy,  affecting  the  affairs  of  nations,  takes  place,  it  is 
never,  as  was  noticed  above,  so  exact,  as  not  to  leave  room 
for  much  variety  of  opinion  regarding  the  apj)lication  of 
many  particulars  of  the  prediction  ;  thus  pointing  to  a 
spiritual  fulfilment,  as  that  to  which  alone  the  terms  of  the 
prophecy  can  be  nnobjectionably  applied. 

But  these  prophecies  respecting  Gog  and  Magog,  are 
eminently  calculated  to  illustrate  the  nature  of  that  great 
portion  of  the  Proplietic  Word,  which  seems  to  treat,  in 
its  letter,  of  particular  countries  and  nations.  Gog  and 
Magog,  according  to  the  literal  idea,  evidently  denote  very 
remote  countries  and  nations  :  the  prophecies  relatinfr  to 
them  are  such  as  never  have  been  outwardly  accomplished, 
and  never  can  be  :  and  if  so,  then  a  spiritual  fulfilment 
must  alone  have  been  intended.  But  how  are  M'e  to  dis- 
cover the  nature  of  this  spiritual  fulfilment  ?  All  ideas 
respecting  it  must  be  merely  conjectural  and  arbitrary, 
imless  we  iiave  a  certain  Rule  to  guide  our  conclusions  : 
and  what  piinciple  in  the  nature  of  things  can  be  disco- 
vered, capable  of  aflbrding  such  a  Rule,  but  the  Analogy 
immutably  established  between  natural  things  and  spiritual, 
whereby  they  mutually  answer  to  each  other  ?  An  obvious 
analogy,  we  have  seen,  exists,  between  the  lelations  of 
Mind  and  the  relations  of  Place  :  each  has  its  provinces  : 


206  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

and  it  is  not  at  all  difficult  to  conceive,  how  the  one  may 
be  represented  by  the  other.  We  have  seen  also,  that 
whatever  may  be  the  difficulty  of  determining  what  pro- 
vinces or  characters  of  mind  are  implied  by  some  of  the 
countries  and  nations  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures,  this 
does  not  extend  to  the  signification  of  Gog  and  Magog. 
These,  as  the  countries  and  nations  most  remote  from  tlie 
land  of  Israel,  must  denote  the  most  external  province  and 
character  that  can  belong  to  the  human  mind.  This,  then, 
may  be  assumed  as  certain.  But  if  it  is  evident  that  a  cer- 
tain province  or  character  of  mind  is  meant  by  Gog  and 
Magog,  it  cannot  be  doubted,  that  some  certain  province 
or  character  of  mind  is  equally  symbolized  by  every  other 
country  and  nation  mentioned  in  the  sacred  pages.  If  we 
admil  the  premises,  the  conclusion  is  unavoidable  ;  unless 
we  would  treat  the  Word  of  God  as  a  chaos  of  confusion, 
— a  mass  of  isolated  discordances,  in  which  no  conclusion 
can  be  drawn  from  one  fact  to  another,  let  the  parallelism 
between  them  be  ever  so  complete. 

(7.)  Now  if  it  be  true  that  the  invasion  of  Israel  by 
■Gog,  is  a  proplietic  description  of  the  state  of  religion 
among  the  Jews  at  tlie  time  of  the  appearance  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  it  will  not  seem  strange  to  infer,  that  the  ex- 
traordinary passage  quoted  at  the  beginning  of  this  section, 
in  which  the  fowls  of  the  air  and  the  beasts  of  the  field  are 
invited  to  a  great  feast  or  sacrifice  prepared  for  them  by 
the  Lord,  refers  to  the  abundant  mercies  consequent  upon 
the  Lord's  coming  in  the  flesh,  and  dispensed  to  all  who 
were  willing  to  accept  them  ;  and  which  were  calculated 
to  nourish,  and  restore  to  its  right  order,  every  faculty 
and  power  of  the  human  mind.  By  his  coming,  the  Lord 
put  an  end  to  the  Israelitish  dispensation,  which  at  best 
was  of  a  very  external  character,  only  "•  having  a  siiadow 
of  good  things  to  come  ;"*   and,  in  its  stead,  "  brought  life 

*    Il.b.  X.  1. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &iC.  207 

and  immortality  to  light  through  the  gospel  :"*  "  for  the 
law  was  given  by  Moses  ;  but  grace  and  truth  came  bv 
Jesus  Christ."!  The  spiritual  graces  which  he  came  to 
dispense  are  frequently  compared  by  him  to  food  and 
drink,  on  account  of  the  analogy  noticed  in  our  last  Lec- 
ture between  natural  food  and  spiritual.  AVhen  the  pro- 
digal returned  repentant,  his  father  killed  for  him  the  fat- 
ted calf.:|:  And  when  the  Lord  proposes  the  parable  of 
"  a  certain  man  who  made  a  great  supper  ;"§  or  of  a  din- 
ner given  by  a  certain  king  on  account  of  the  marriage  of 
his  son,  and  who  says  on  the  occasion,  "  My  oxen  and  my 
fatlings  are  killed  ;"||  he  evidently  describes  the  heavenly 
gifts  which  were  offered  to  man,  for  the  nourishment  of 
his  soul,  in  consequence  of  his  coming  into  the  world. 
(It  is  needless  to  say,  that  the  guests  who  were  invited, 
and  who  refused  to  come,  Avere  the  Jews,  Mho  possessed 
the  invitations  of  the  Lord  in  his  Word  ;  and  that  they 
who  were  brought  in  from  the  highways  and  hedges,  with- 
out previous  invitation,  were  the  Gentiles,  to  whom  the 
true  God  was  previously  unknown.)  If  then  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  himself,  thus  describes  the  blessings  presented 
to  man  by  his  gospel  under  the  appropriate  emblem  of  a 
feast  ;  how  natural  is  the  conclusion,  that  the  same  bless- 
ings are  indicated  by  Ezekiel,  in  the  stronger  figures  be- 
longing to  the  prophetic  style,  when,  in  the  conclusion  of 
his  prophecy  respecting  Gog,  which  refers  to  the  state  of 
the  Jewish  church  at  the  time  of  the  Lord's  advent,  he 
speaks  of  a  great  feast  prepared  for  the  fowls  of  the  air  and 
the  beasts  of  the  field  !  Let  us  then  briefly  notice,  how  the 
particulars  of  this  general  explanation  may  be  developed 
by  the  Science  of  Analogies. 

We  have  seen  in  our  last  Lecture,  that  the  human  mind 
is  composed,  in  general,  of  two  great  faculties,  called  the 
will  and  the  understanding  ;  and  that  the  will  is  the  seat 

*2Tiin.  i.  10.     t  John  i.  17.     j  Luke  xv.  23.     §  Ch.  xiv.  16.     ||  Mutt.  .xxii.  4. 


208  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

of  every  thing  belonging  to  love  or  affection,  and  the  un- 
derstcmcling  of  every  thing  belonging  to  perception  and 
thought  :  so  that  the  will  may  in  fact  be  considered  as  a 
congeries  of  innumerable  affections,  and  the  understanding 
as  a  congeries  of  innumerable  thoughts.  Now  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  being  dictated  by  Him  "  who  knoweth  our 
frame,"*  continually  regard  man  as  composed  of  these  two 
general  principles,  and  address  him  in  reference  to  them 
both.  Thus  nothing  is  more  common  in  Scripture  than 
to  speak  of  "  the  fowls  of  the  air  and  the  beasts  of  the 
field  :"  the  reason  is,  because  there  is  an  analogy  between 
the  winged  part  of  the  animal  creation,  and  the  intellectual 
powers  of  the  mind  ;  and  between  the  part  of  the  animal 
creation  constituted  by  the  mammalia,  and  the  affectuous 
powers  of  the  mind.  That  beasts  in  general  are  apt  sym- 
bols of  the  affections,  is  very  evident,  and  was  in  some 
measure  shewn  in  our  last  Lecture  :  and  birds  in  general, 
not  less  aptly,  are  types  of  the  thoughts  ;  as  will  appear 
to  him  who  contemplates  tlieir  peculiar  properties  ;  such 
as  their  capacity  of  soaring  in  the  air,  and  the  remarkable 
manner  in  which  they  are  affected  by  the  light,  being  ren- 
dered lively  by  its  presence,  dull  by  its  partial  absence, 
and  going  to  sleep  on  the  approach  of  darkness,  even  when 
the  darkness  comes  on  at  an  unusual  time, — as  when  it  has 
been  caused  by  an  eclipse  not  long  after  sunrise.  When 
therefore  the  Lord  says  to  the  prophet,  in  the  passage  we 
are  considering,  "  Speak  unto  every  feathered  fowl,  [or, 
to  the  fowl  of  every  wing,]  and  to  every  beast  of  the 
field  ;" — it  is  not  the  fowls  and  beasts  who  are  addressed, 
(for  wlio  could  suppose  that  Jehovah  would  literally  ad- 
dress these  ?  less  absurd  would  be  the  story  of  St.  Antho- 
ny's sermon  to  the  fishes  :)  but  it  is  man  in  general  who 
is  appealed  to,  considered  as  to  the  general  faculties  of  his 
mental  constitution, — as  to  all   the   powers  of  his  mind 

*  p9.  ciii.  1-1, 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  209 

which  are  capable  of  being  benefited  by  divine  gifts.  As, 
also,  tliere  is  an  immense  variety  in  the  human  race,  every 
man  being  distingnished  from  others,  not  less  by  his  pecu- 
liar mode  of  thinking  and  feeling  than  by  the  peculiar 
lineaments  of  his  countenance  ;  and  as,  in  some,  the  under- 
standing is  more  active  than  the  affections,  and,  in  others, 
the  affections  are  more  active  than  the  intellect  :  there- 
fore those  whose  peculiar  character  belongs  to  the 
former  description,  under  any  possible  modification  of 
it,  are  addressed  as  the  birds  of  every  wing,  and  those 
whose  character  belongs  to  the  latter  description,  with 
the  same  variety,  are  included  in  the  address  to  every  beast 
of  the  field. 

Now  as  the  human  mind  in  the  aggregate  consists  of  two 
general  faculties,  which  are  the  will  and  the  understand- 
ing ;  so  are  there  two  general  divine  gifts  by  which  these 
are  to  be  nourished  ;  which  are,  goodness  and  truth. 
These  then  are  what  are  meant,  when,  on  the  birds  and 
beasts  being  commanded  to  assemble  themselves  together 
to  a  great  sacrifice  which  should  be  sacrificed  for  them  by 
the  Lord,  it  is  said,  "  that  ye  may  eat  flesh  and  drink 
blood  ;"  there  being,  as  noticed  in  our  last  Lecture,  an 
exact  analogy  between  flesh  and  blood,  as  the  chief  consti- 
tuents of  animal  bodies,  and  goodness  and  truth,  or  love 
and  wisdom,  these  being,  in  their  origin,  the  prime  essen- 
tials of  the  Divine  Nature.  But  as  the  mind  of  man,  both 
as  to  will  and  intellect,  consists  of  faculties  of  various  or- 
ders and  degrees  ;  so  also  are  there  various  orders  and 
degrees  of  the  goodness  and  truth  imparted  for  their  nour- 
ishment ;  and  nothing  can  be  conceived,  which  becomes 
an  object  of  feeling  and  perception,  which  does  not  refer, 
in  some  way,  to  the  general  principle  of  goodness,  or  to 
the  general  principle  of  truth.  The  various  orders  and 
degrees,  then,  of  goodness  and  truth,  which  would  be 
bestowed  in  abundance,  under  the  dispensation  of  the 
gospel  for  the  spiritual  nourishment  of  man,  and  for  hi» 
27 


t\0  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

edification  in  all  heavenly  graces,   are  represented  by  the 
various  kinds  of  beings  whose  flesh  and  blood   should  be 
presented   for  food,   as  related   in  the    following  verses. 
"  Ye  shall  eat  the  flesh  of  the  mighty,  and  drink  the  blood 
of  the  princes  of  the  earth,   of  rams,   of  lambs,   and  of 
goats,  of  bullocks,  all  of  them  failings  of  Bashan."     The 
mighty,  here,  are  they  who  prevail  in  spiritual  combats, 
which  are  such  as   are   carried  on  internally  against  the 
corruptions  of  the  heart  and  mind  ;  or,  more  abstractedly, 
they  are   those  principles  of  heavenly  confidence  which 
give  power  in  those  combats  ;  and  to  eat  the  flesh  of  the 
mighty,  is  to  enjoy  the  good  which  is  procured  by  victory 
in  such  conflicts.     The  princes  of  the  earth  are  the  lead- 
ino-  and  primary  truths  of  the  church,  on  which  the  subor- 
dinate ones  depend  ;  and  to  drink  their   blood  is  to  have 
these  fixed  in  the  mind      Rams  and  lambs  are  emblems  of 
such  good  aifections  as  belong  to  t  le  i  Vernal  man,    relat- 
ing, chiefly,  to  love  to  God  and  our  neighbour  ;  and  goats 
and  bullocks   are  corresponding  principles  in  the  external 
man  :  the  bullocks  are  said  to  be   failings  of  Bashan,  to 
express  the  excellence  of  the  animals,  and,  by  analogy,  of 
the  principle  which  they  represent.     To  imply  the  profu- 
sion with   which  these  blessings  should  be  imparted,  it  is 
added,   "  And  ye  shall  eat  fat  till  ye  be  full,  and  drink 
blood  till  ye  be  drunken,   of  my  sacrifice,  which   I  have 
sacrificed  for  you  :"  fat  is  here  mentioned  instead  of  flesh, 
as  being  a  symb  1  of  goodness  still  more  genuine  and  ex- 
cellent.    Tae  conclusion  of  the  promise  is  the  most  extra- 
ordinary part  of  all  :  "  Thus  ye  shall  be  filled  at  my  table 
with  horses  and  chariots,  with  mighty  men,  and  with  all 
men  of  war,  saith  the  Lord  God."     If  there  be  any,  who 
are  so  disposed  to  adhere  to  the  literal  sense   of  the  pro- 
phecy, as  to  conclude  that  "  Gog  and  all   his  multitude" 
really  mean  an  immense  invading  army,  and  to  infer  that 
the  convocation  of  the  fowls  and  beasts  to  "  eat  flesh  and 
drink  blood,"  is  a  figurative  mode  of  describing  the  excess 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  211 

of  the  slaughter,  by  adverting  to  the  numbers  of  birds  and 
beasts  which  would  be  drawn  togetiier  by  the  scent  of  the 
carcases  ;  and  who  can  bring  themselves  to  lliink  it  not 
unworthy  of  "  the  Lord  Jehovah"  to  make  such  an  address 
to  mere  animals  of  prey  ;  these  words  must  destroy  the 
illusion  :  for  though  some  animals  of  prey  would  eagerly 
ilevour  dead  horses,  they  would  not  devour  the  chariots 
Avhich  they  drew  ;  and  yet,  accor(]ing  to  the  terms  of  the 
prediction,  the  chariots,  ako,  are  to  form  part  of  the  feast. 
Thus  it  is,  that,  throughout  the  Scrij)tures,  expressions  are 
fiequently  thrown  in,  Avhich  cannot  at  all  be  applied  to 
the  subjects  which  appear  to  be  treated  of  in  the  letter  ;  as 
if  Divine  Wisdom  introduced  them  on  purpose  to  prevent 
the  attention  from  resting  in  the  letter,  and  to  awaken  it 
to  the  spirit  whicli  dwells  within.  All  the  expressions 
used  in  Scripture  relating  to  ways  and  to  journeys,  and  to 
the  methods  by  which  man  assists  his  progress  in  his  jour- 
neys, refer  to  the  exercise  of  the  thoughts.  In  meditation, 
every  one  is  conscious  of  something  passing  in  his  mind, 
analogous  to  locomotion.  On  account  of  the  use  of  the 
horse  in  assisting  man  in  his  progress  from  place  to  place, 
he  was  regarded  in  ancient  times,  as  noticed  in  our  last 
Lecture,  as  a  symbol  of  man's  understanding,  or  appre- 
hension, of  truth,  or  of  what  he  regards  as  truth  ;  and  to 
ride  on  horseback,  in  the  symbolic  style  of  writing,  was 
understood  to  mean,  to  acquire  intelligence,  or  to  commu- 
nicate instruction,  by  the  exercise  of  the  faculty.  Nearly 
related  in  signification  to  the  horse,  on  which  a  man  rides, 
must  be  a  chariot,  drawn  by  horses,  in  which  he  rides  ; 
thus,  as  the  one  expresses,  in  the  language  of  analogy,  the 
understanding  or  apprehension  of  truth,  so  does  the  other 
the  doctrine  of  truth,  or  those  sentiments  respecting  truth 
which  the  mind  assumes  as  certain,  and  employs  to  assist 
its  further  progress.  Now  as  birds  and  beasts  may  feed  on 
horses,  so  is  the  human  mind  nurtured  in  spiritual  graces 
by  the  right  understanding  of  truth  :  and  though  no  bird 


212  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

or  beast  can  feed  on  chariots,  yet  may  the  human  mind  be 
fed  with  the  doctrine  of  truth  :  and  this  is  what  is  meant 
■when  the  Lord  says  by  the  prophet,  "  Ye  shall  be  filled  at 
my  table  with  horses  and  chariots."  ''  Mighty  men,  and 
all  men  of  war,"  are  added,  to  express  such  firm  convic- 
tions of  the  truth,  grounded  in  love,  in  regard  to  divine 
subjects,  as  give  a  man  power  over  the  corruptions  of  his 
own  heart  and  mind,  as  well  as  over  all  suggestions  in 
favour  of  evil  and  error  that  may  come  from  without, 
and  which  enable  him,  in  every  trial,  to  come  off  a  con- 
queror. 

Now,  though  it  would  require  a  very  extensive  discus- 
sion, fully  to  prove  that  the  several  particulars  of  this 
remarkable  prophecy  bear  the  exact  signification  which  we 
have  offered  ;  yet  that  they  must  bear  some  such  significa- 
tion, is,  I  think,  abundantly  evident.  The  spiritual  analo- 
gy of  some  of  the  principal  symbols,  is  obvious  :  that  of 
the  others  will  also  appear  on  reflection  :  and  if  the 
ground,  in  analogy,  of  the  signification  assigned  to  any  of 
the  natural  images,  should  not  be  discerned  by  every  one, 
yet  every  one  who  will  carefully  examine  the  other  pas- 
sages in  the  Word  of  God  where  they  are  mentioned,  may 
ascertain  that  they  always  bear  some  such  meaning.  It 
would  require  a  work  on  a  diffei'ent  plan  from  that  of 
these  Lectures,  fully  to  demonstrate,  by  the  Science  of 
Analogies,  and  by  the  manner  in  which  natural  images  are 
used  in  the  Scriptures,  the  meaning  of  each  specific  sym- 
bol :  all  that  we  undertake  to  prove,  is,  that  the  general 
principle  exists  ;  that  there  is  in  reality  a  definite  analogy 
between  natural  things  and  spiritual,  whereby  the  former 
answer  to,  and  form  expressive  symbols  of,  the  latter  ; 
and  that  this  analogy  is  observed  in  the  Holy  Word.  In 
applying  the  general  rule  to  particular  cases,  we  shall  be 
satisfied  if  our  interpretations  are  accepted  as  probable. 
In  the  more  important  and  more  general  analogies,  we 
hope  tiiat  this  probability  will  be  found  very  strong  :  in 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  213 

subordinate  and  respectively  unimportant  partinihirs,  a 
lower  degree  of  probability  will  be  sufficient  for  our  pur- 
pose. A  multitude  of  probabilities  is  admitted  to  consti- 
stute  a  moral  certainty  :  and  if  it  shall  appear,  in  nume- 
rous instances,  that  the  spiritual  signification  which  we 
assign  to  various  natural  symbols  is  probably  the  true  one, 
every  impartial  mind  will  allow  it  to  he  morally  certain, 
that  some  spiritual  signification  does  belong  to  those  sym- 
bols. Thus  the  general  principle  will  be  established, 
whether  our  explanations  of  particulars  be  all  concurred 
in,  or  not. 

In  the  passage  at  present  before  us,  it  is  impossible  to 
conceive  of  Jehovah  himself  as  calling  the  birds  and  beasts 
to  a  sacrifice  prepared  for  them  by  him,  that  they  might 
eat  flesh  and  drink  blood,  without  revolting  from  the 
ideas  suggested  by  the  letter,  and  concluding  instinctively, 
that  matters  very  different,  and  more  worthy  of  Infinite 
Love  and  Wisdom,  and  of  the  active  interference  of  Deity, 
must  be  veiled  beneath  the  expressions.  To  regard  them 
as  merely  forming  an  emphatic  mode  of  describing  a  great 
slaughter  by  one  of  its  consequences,  is  still  to  impute  un- 
worthy sentiments  to  the  Divine  Being.  If  the  piophets 
are  to  be  considered  merely  as  poets,  and  it  should  be 
deemed  allowable  for  the  poet  Ezekiel  thus  to  exult  over 
the  destruction  of  the  enemies  of  his  country  ;  it  would 
be  in  the  highest  degree  profane  for  him  to  introduce  on 
the  occasion  the  most  sacred  of  the  names  of  God,  and  to 
deliver  his  invitation  to  birds  and  beasts  to  feed  on  his 
slaughtered  foes,  in  the  name  of  "  the  Lord  Jehovah." 
But  if,  as  has  already  been  shewn,  no  invasion  by  natural 
enemies  can  have  been  intended  by  any  part  of  the  pro- 
phecy, then  no  devouring  of  their  carcasses  can  be  refer- 
red to  by  the  invitation  to  the  birds  and  beasts.  Besides, 
the  total  destruction  of  "  Gog  and  all  his  multitude"  is 
more  explicitly  detailed  in  the  former  part  of  the  chapter  : 
they   are  not  only  described  as  being  all  dead,  but,  like- 


214  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

•wise,  as  being  all  buried  :*  after  which  to  invite  the  birds 
and  beasts  to  eat  their  flesh  and  drink  their  blood,  would 
look  like  an  after  thought  indeed,  not  easily  compatible 
with  the  previous  statements.  Every, thing  then  leads  us 
to  retrard  this  part  of  the  prophecy,  as  well  as  the  rest,  as 
a  prophetic  allegory,  designed  to  have  a  purely  spiritual 
accomplishment,  and  no  other. 

But  perhaps  it  may  be  objected,  "  Admitting  something 
of  a  spiritual  nature  to  be  intended  by  this  invitation  to 
the  fowls  of  every  wing  and  to  every  beast  of  the  field, 
still  it  does  not  appear  how  their  eating  the  flesh  and 
drinkino-  the  blood  of  Gog  and  his  army,  who  evidently 
are  the  enemies  of  the  church,  or  injurious  principles  in 
re'3-ard  to  religion,  can  represent  the  imparting  to  men  of 
heavenly  gifts  and  graces."  But  it  is  to  be  observed,  that 
the  idea  of  Gog  and  his  army  is  dismissed  with  their  bu- 
rial, already  recorded,  and  they  are  not  mentioned  any 
more.  According  to  the  literal  sense,  indeed,  it  must  be 
inferred  to  be  their  flesh  and  blood  tliat  the  fowls  and 
beasts  are  to  eat  and  drink  ;  but  this  is  not  affirmed.  The 
-  feast  is  merely  represented  as  consequent  upon  the  destruc- 
tion of  Goo-  :  and  thus  it  suggests  the  important  truth,  ex- 
plicitly affirmed  in  many  parts  of  Scripture,  that  all  in- 
crease of  good  is  in  consequence  of,  and  in  proportion  to, 
the  removal  of  evil.  Both  cannot  exist  together,  either  in 
the  church  at  large  or  in  the  mind  of  man  :  the  one  must 
be  put  away,  to  make  room  foi-  the  other  to  enter.  The 
removal  then  of  the  evils  that  destroyed  and  perverted  all 
true  religion,  is  described  by  the  destruction  of  Gog  and 
his  multitude  :  the  reception  of  the  good  which  can  then 
be  imparted,  is  meant  by  the  feast  given  in  consequence  to 
the  fowls  and  beasts.  That  the  flesh  and  blood  which 
they  should  eat  and  drink  are  not  considered  as  belonging 
to  Go'T  and  his  army,  or  to  any  thing  that  has  a  bad  signi- 


•  Vor.  n  lo  J5. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    Lc.  215 

fication,  is  evident  from  their  being  called  tlie  flesh  and 
blood  "  of  rams,  of  lambs,  of  goats,  and  of  bidlocks." 
Goats  and  bullocks,  indeed,  as  denoting  jjrinciples  wliich 
belong  to  the  external  man,  which  may  either  be  in  right 
order  or  the  contrary,  are  sometimes  mentioned  in  a  bad 
sense,  as  well  as  in  a  good  one  :  but  rams  and  lambs,  as 
denoting  principles  which  belong  to  the  internal  man, — 
the  apostle's  inward  man  Avhich  delights  in  the  law  of 
God,* — are  not  subject  to  this  ambiguity  of  interpretation: 
they  are  invariably  used  as  symbols  of  the  purest  affections 
that  can  adorn  the  human  mind. 

Altogether,  then,  whether  the  explanation  which  has 
been  offered  be  seen,  in  all  the  particulars,  to  be  true  or 
not;  I  trust  that  the  general  meaning  assigned  to  the  whole 
will  be  admitted  to  be  highly  probable  : — that  the  flesh 
and  blood  of  the  various  orders  of  beings  mentioned,  as 
forming  a  sacrifice  or  feast  prepared  by  Jehovah  for  the 
birds  of  every  wing  and  every  beast  of  the  field,  are  the 
goodness  and  truth  of  various  orders  and  degrees,  offered 
by  the  Lord  to  all  who  had  any  capacities  for  receiving 
them,  when,  at  his  coming  into  the  world,  he  put  an  end 
to  the  perversion  of  religion  then  prevalent  among  the 
Jews,  in  consequence  of  their  looking  at  divine  things  un- 
der the  influence  of  the  most  external  part  of  their  nature; 
or,  more  briefly,  that  this  prophetic  feast  denotes  the 
profusion  of  heavenly  gifts,  resulting  from  the  introduction 
of  the  spiritual  and  pure  dispensation  of  the  Gospel,  in  lieu 
of  the  carnal  and  corrupted  dispensation  of  the  Law. 

2.  The  next  prophecy  that  we  select  for  consideration, 
is  that  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  comprised  in  the  twenty- 
fourth  and  twenty-fifth  chapters  of  Matthew  ;  more  parti- 
cularly that  part  of  it  which  is  contained  in  these  words  : 
"  Immediately  after  the  tribulation  of  those  days,  shall  the 
Sim  be  darkened  and  the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light, 

*  Rom.  vii.  22. 


216  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

and  the  stars  shall  fall  from  heaven,  and  the  powers  of  the 
heavens  shall  be  shaken.  And  then  shall  appear  the  sign 
of  the  Son  of  man  in  heaven  :  and  then  shall  all  the  tribes 
of  the  earth  mourn  ;  and  they  shall  see  the  Son  of  man 
coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and  great 
glory."* 

(1.)  As  the  passage  which  we  have  considered  from  Eze- 
Iviel  affords  a  remarkable  instance  of  that  species  of  divine 
prediction  which  admits  of  no  outward  fulfilment;  so  does 
this  whole  discourse  of  the  Lord  .Tesus  Christ  supply  a  re- 
markable instance  of  that  species  of  prophecy  which  does 
admit  of  such  a  fulfilment,  it  being,  in  fact,  of  all  the  pre- 
dictions of  Holy  Writ,  the  most  distinguished  for  the  great 
exactness  with  which  many  of  its  announcements  have  been 
palpably  accomplished.  It  has  been  justly  observed,  of 
that  part  of  it  which  extends  from  the  beginning  to  the 
twenty-eighth  verse  of  the  twenty-fourth  chapter,  that 
many  of  the  particulars  which  it  states,  so  precisely  de- 
scribe the  calamities  which  befel  the  Jewish  nation  at  and 
prior  to  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus,  that  it  more  re- 
sembles a  history  than  a  prophecy:  and  as,  nevertheless,  it 
is  certain  that  the  prediction  was  delivered,  and  the  ac- 
count of  it  published,  before  those  calamities  occurred,  an 
irresistible  argument  thence  arises  for  the  divine  inspiration 
of  prophecy,  and  for  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion, 
which  has  been  ably  handled  by  many  of  the  Christian 
apologists. 

Nevertheless,  clearly  as  some  parts  of  this  prophecy 
have  coincided  with  historical  events,  it  is  impossible  to 
adapt  it  all  to  circumstances  of  that  kind.  A  great  part  of 
it  certainly  admits  of  none  but  a  spiritual  fulfilment  : 
hence,  as  the  whole  of  it  flows  in  an  uninterrupted  and 
most  closely  connected  series,  it  seems  undeniable  that  a 
spiritual    fulfilment    is    that    which    is    chiefly    designed 

»  Ch.  xxiv.29.  30. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  217 

throughout,  and  that,  in  the  words  of  Bishop  Lowth  so 
often  cited,  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  though  "  theirs/, 
was  not  the  pn"nci/>«/ thing  in  the  [Divine]  Prophet's  view." 
Still  it  is  certain,  that  part  of  the  prophecy  had  an  exter- 
nal accomplishment  in  the  events  attending  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem:  we  here  then  liave  a  striking  exemplification 
of  the  principle  advanced  above, — that  the  spiritual  things 
described  in  the  ulterior  sense  of  the  prophetic  language, 
were  typically  pictured  by  such  external  events  ; — that  a 
spiritual  fulfilment  was  at  the  same  time  primarily  regard- 
ed, and  that  of  this  was  given,  in  the  corresponding  histo- 
rical circumstances,  a  symbolic  scenical  representation."* 
On  no  other  principle  can  those  particulars  of  the  prophe- 
cy which  may  be  applied  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
be  taken  as  part  of  the  same  series  as  the  other  particulars, 
which  do  not  admit  of  such  an  application.  And  the  ar- 
gument for  the  divine  inspiration  of  prophecy,  and  for  the 
truth  of  the  Christian  religion,  arising  from  the  outward 
fulfilment,  is  hereby  carried  much  further;  since,  while  we 
obtain  a  solution,  by  the  Science  of  Analogies,  of  those 
parts  of  the  prophecy  which  are  inexplicable  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  literal  interpretation,  we  obtain,  at  the  same  time, 
for  the  passages  in  which  a  literal  interpretation  is  admissi- 
ble, a  meaning  more  worthy  of  a  Divine  Author,  than 
could  be  afforded  by  the  most  exact  description  of  the  fu- 
ture fates  of  nations  ; — a  meaning  wliich,  while  it  rests  up- 
on the  letter  as  its  basis,  rises  and  points  towards  heaven. 
Let  us  see  how  this  will  appear  from  a  general  view  of  the 
whole  prophecy  ;  exhibiting,  first,  the  inconsistencies  of 
the  common  interpretations. 

(2.)  It  is  related,  in  the  first  verse,  that  "  Jesus  went 
out,  and  departed  from  the  temple:  and  his  disciples  came 
to  him  to  shew  him  the  buildings  of  the  temple  ;"  and  it 
is  added,  in  the  second  verse,  that  "Jesus  said  imto  them, 

*  r.  177. 
28 


218  PLENART     INSPIRATION     OF 

See  ye  not  all  these  things  ?  verily  I  say  unto  you,  There 
shall  not  be  left  here  one  stone  upon  another  wliich  shall  not 
be  thrown  down."  First,  then,  let  it  be  admitted,  that 
these  words  apply,  in  their  immediate  reference,  to  the 
temple  at  Jerusalem  and  its  destruction,  which,  as  is  known 
from  the  history  of  Josephus.  was  as  total  as  is  here  im- 
plied. Let,  also,  the  detailed  prediction  that  follows, 
through  the  whole  of  this  and  the  next  chapters,  be  under- 
stood of  the  events  connected  with  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem and  its  temple,  as  far  as  they  can  possibly  be  adapt- 
ed to  those  occurrences.  It  is  allowed,  however,  on  all 
hands,  that  the  whole  cannot  be  so  adapted  :  let  then  the 
place  be  pointed  out  where  the  new  subject  commences. 
But  let  this  be  done  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  be  consistent 
with  the  fact,  that  a  space  of  not  much  less  than  two  thou- 
sand years  at  the  least,  was  to  intervene,  between  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  latter  part  of  the  prophecy  and  that 
of  the  former  :  for  the  first  part  of  it  is  considered  to  have 
been  fully  accomplished  about  A.  D.  70  ;  and  the  remain- 
der not  to  be  accomplished  yet:  it  is  also  to  be  recollected, 
that  no  events  belonging  to  this  intervening  period  are 
supposed  to  be  treated  of  in  the  prophecy,  but  that,  in 
whatever  place  the  transition  is  made,  it  skips  at  once  from 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  to  the  end  of  the  world.  Of 
course,  with  these  premises  assumed,  every  reader  will  ex- 
pect to  perceive  some  well  defined  mark  of  so  great  an 
hiatus.  How  will  this  expectation  be  answered  .''  So  far 
from  discovering  any  thing  like  it,  no  person  can  read  the 
two  chapters,  and  draw  his  inference  from  their  contents 
alone,  without  concluding,  that  the  events  announced  are 
to  follow  each  other  in  succession,  unbroken  by  any  wide 
interruption  whatever.  Accordingly,  though  commenta- 
tors are  now  generally  agreed  that  the  hiatus  must  exist, 
they  are  by  no  means  unanimous  in  fixing  its  situation. 

As  before  observed,    the  circumstances  foretold  as  far  as 
the  twenty-eighth  verse  of  the  twenty-fourth  chapter,  may, 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  219 

by  having  recourse,  here  and  there,  to  figure,  he  applied  to 
the  calamities  which  befel  the  Jewish  nation  :  what  follows, 
respecting  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  in  the  clouds  of 
heav^en,  and  his  sending  his  angels  with  a  great  sound  of  a 
trumpet  to  gather  together  his  elect  from  the  four  Avinds, 
from  one  end  of  heaven  to  the  other,  does  not,  with  equal 
convenience,  admit  this  application  :  wherefore  many  emi- 
nent writers  consider  the  prophecies  relating  to  the  Jews 
to  terminate  witli  the  twenty-eighth  verse,  and  all  that  fol- 
lows to  belojig  to  the  greater  events  commonly  designated 
as  the  second  coming  of  the  Lord,  and  the  general  judg- 
ment on  the  world.  Unfortunately,  however,  let  both 
parts  of  the  chapter  denote  what  they  may,  they  are  con- 
nected together  by  the  binding  Avord  "immediately  :" — 
^'  Immediately  after  the  tribulation  of  tlio^e  days,  shall  the 
sun  be  darkened,"  &c. — "  and  then  shall  appear  the  sign  of 
the  Son  of  man  in  heaven."  Extreme  violence,  therefore, 
is  done  to  the  words,  by  those  who  thrust  in,  between  the 
tribulation  previously  described,  and  this  immediate  appear- 
ing of  the  Son  of  man,  an  interval  of  two  thousand  years  ! 
On  this  account,  other  eminent  writers  understand  the  ap- 
pearing of  the  Son  of  man,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  chapter, 
to  be  merely  added  in  amplification  of  the  previous  subject; 
affirming,  however,  that  "  Jesus  Christ  intended  that  his 
disciples  should  consider  the  judgment  he  was  going  to  in- 
flict on  the  Jewish  nation,  as  ^  forerunner  and  emblem  of  that 
universal  judgment  he  is  to  exercise  at  the  last  day  ;" 
wherefore,  they  add,  "  he  gives  in  the  twenty-fifth  chapter 
a  description  of  the  last  judgment  :"*  for  which  reasonF, 
they  place  the  grand  hiatus  between  the  two  chapters.  But, 
unhappily,  a  particle,  the  nature  of  which  is  to  draw  things 
into  such  close  connexion  as  admits  of  nothing  being  in- 
terposed between  them,  here  also  occurs.  The  Divine 
Prophet  concludes  the  twenty-fourth  chapter  with  describ- 

*  Beiiusobre  and  LEnfanl's  Note  on  Matt.  xw.  1. 


PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

ing  the  reward  which  the  faithful  servant,  and  the  punish- 
ment which  the  unfaithful,  shall  receive  at  his  coming  : 
and  he  commences  the  twenty-fifth  chapter  thus  :  "  Then 
shall  the  kingdom  of  heaven  be  likened  unto  ten  virgins." 
Who  cannot  see  that  the  parable  of  the  ten  virgins,  "  five 
of  whom  were  wise,  and  five  were  foolish,"  is  a  continua- 
tion and  further  illustration  of  the  subject  introduced  by 
the  parable  of  the  faithful  and  wicked  servant  ; — that  both 
relate  to  the  same  series  of  events,  and  leave  no  room  for 
sxipposing  an  interval  of  two  thousand  years  between  the 
one  and  the  other  ?  And  even  if  the  subjects  were  not  so 
obviously  connected,  what  propriety  would  there  be  in 
passing  from  one  event  to  another  so  distant,  by  such  a 
copulative  as  then, — a  word  that  always  denotes  either 
identity  of  time,  or  immediate  succession  ? 

A  third  modification  of  the  same  general  plan  of  inter- 
pretation has  therefore  been  proposed  by  Dr.  Doddridge. 
He  adheres  to  the  system  of  the  hiatus,  but  he  seems  to 
have  felt  more  strongly  than  some,  the  difficulties  with 
which  it  is  attended  :  Avherefore,  in  hopes  to  avoid  them, 
he  steers  a  middle  course  between  the  two  theories  already 
noticed.  Let  us  see,  then,  what  degree  of  probability  he 
has  been  able  to  give  to  the  scheme. 

He  paraphrases  the  twenty-ninth  and  thirtieth  verses 
thus  :  "  Immediately  after  the  ajjiiction  of  those  clays  which  I 
have  now  been  describing,  the  sun  shall  as  it  were  be  darken- 
ed, and  the  moon  shall  not  seem  to  give  her  usual  light  ;  and 
the  stars  shall  fall  from  heaven,  and  the  powers  of  the  heavens,  all 
the  mighty  machines  and  strong  movements  above,  shall  he 
shaken  and  broken  to  pieces  ;  that  is,  according  to  the  sub- 
limity of  that  prophetic  language  to  wliich  you  have  been 
accustomed,  the  whole  civil  and  ecclesiastical  constitution 
of  the  nation  shall  not  only  be  shocked,  but  totally  dis- 
solved. Jind  then  shall  there  evidently  appear  such  a  re- 
markable hand  of  providence  in  avenging  my  quarrel  upon 
this  sinful  peoj.le,  that  it  shall  be  like  the  sign  of  the  Son  of 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    SiC.  221 

man  in  heaven  at  the  last  clay  ;  and  all  the  tribes  of  the  land 
shall  then  mourn,  and  they  shall  see  the  Son  of  man  comiiig  as  it 
were  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  unth  power  and  great  glory  ;  for 
that  celestial  army  which  shall  appear  in  tlie  air  marshal- 
led round  the  city,  shall  be  a  sure  token  to  them  that  the 
angels  of  God,  and  the  great  Lord  of  those  heavenly  hosts, 
are  set  as  it  were  in  array  against  them."  Upon  this  para- 
phrase I  shall  only  observe,  that  if  the  fiery  appearances  in 
the  sky  mentioned  by  Josephus,  and  which  seem  to  have 
been  similar  to  those  observed  during  the  civil  wars  in 
England,  and  at  various  other  places  and  times,  are  really 
alluded  to  in  the  prophecy,  it  must  be  in  the  former  part 
of  it.  Where  Matthew  merely  says,  that  there  should  be 
"  famines  and  pestilences,  and  earthquakes,  in  divers 
places  ;"*  Luke  amplifies  thus  :  "  And  great  earthquakes 
shall  be  in  divers  places,  and  famines,  and  pestilences  ;  and 
fearful  sights  and  great  wonders  shall  there  he  from  heaven.''^ j 
This  will  agree  with  Joseplius  :  for  that  historian  describes 
the  celestial  phaenomena  as  having  been  seen  6c/bre  the  siege 
and  capture  of  Jerusalem,  and  as  portending  those  events  ;:}: 
wherefore  it  is  violating  the  facts  to  represent  these  as  be- 
ing what  are  foretold  as  the  appearing  of  the  Son  of  man 
and  his  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  "  after  the  tribula- 
tion of  those  days  :"  beside  being  a  mean  application  of  a 
most  majestic  prediction.  However,  we  have  only  intro- 
duced tiiis  popular  writer's  paraphrase,  for  tiie  sake  of  his 
note  upon  it.  On  the  words,  Immediately  after  the  tribula- 
tion of  those  days,  he  remarks  thus  :  "  Archbishop  Tillotson, 
and  Brennius,  with  many  other  learned  interpreters,  im- 
agine, that  our  Lord  here  makes  the  transition  from  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  which  had  been  the  subject  of  his 
discourse  thus  far,  to  the  general  judgment  :  but  I  think,  as 
it  would  be  very  harsh  to  suppose  all  the  sufferings  of  the 
Jewish  nation,    in    all    ages,   to  be  called  the    tribtdation  of 

*  Ch.  xxiv.  7.     f  Ch.  xxi.  Jl.     {  Jewish  AVur,  B.  vi.  Ch.  o,  §  3. 


222  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OP 

those  days ;"  [what  occasion,  by  tlie  by,  for  supposing  the 
sufferings  of  the  Jewish  nation  in  all  ages  to  be  treated  of 
at  all  ?]  "  so  it  would,  on  the  other  hand,  be  equally  so  to 
say,  that  the  general  judgment.,  which  probably  will  not 
commence  till  at  leart  a  thousand  years  after  their  restora- 
tion, will  happen  immediately  after  their  sufferings  ;  nor  can 
I  find  any  one  instance  in  which  sv6sc^g  [immediately]  is  used  in 
such  a  strange  latitude.  What  is  said  below  (in  Matt.  xxiv. 
31,  Mark  xiii.  30,  and  Luke  xxi.  32,)  seems  also  an  insu- 
j)erable  objection  against  such  an  interpretation.  I  am 
obliged  therefore  to  explain  this  section  as  in  the  para- 
phrase ;  though  I  acknowledge  many  of  the  figures  used 
may  with  more  literal  propriety  be  applied  to  the  last  day^ 
to  which  there  may  be  a  remote  though  not  an  immediate 
reference."  Moved  by  these  considerations,  this  worthy 
divine,  though  he  sees  some  difficulties  in  the  way,  deter- 
mines to  apply  the  prophecy,  thus  far,  to  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem.  But  when  he  comes  to  the  thirty-sixth 
verse,  though  the  series  continues  to  flow  without  the  least 
si"-n  of  interruption,  he  paraphrases  the  words,  "  But  of 
that  day  and  hour  knoweth  no  man,  no,  not  the  angels  of 
heaven,  but  my  Father  only,"  in  reference  to  the  "final 
sentence"  of  all  mankind  ;  and  adds  this  note  :  "  I  cannot 
ao-ree  with  Dr.  Clarke  in  referrino;  this  verse  to  the  destruc- 
tion  of  Jerusalem,  the  particular  day  of  which  was  not  a 
matter  of  great  importance  ;  and  as  for  the  season  of  it,  I 
see  not  how  it  could  properly  be  said  to  be  entirely  un- 
known, after  such  an  express  declaration  that  it  should  be 
in  that  generation. — It  seems  thei'cfore  much  fitter,  with  Dr. 
Whitby  (after  Grotius,)  to  explain  it  of  the  last  day,  when 
heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away.''"'  Well  tlien,  the  Doctor 
has  now  taken  tlie  leap.  The  simple  connective  "  but" 
has  carried  him  over  an  interval,  of  not  less,  according  to 
his  computation,  than  three  thousand  years.  No  sooner 
however  has  he  taken  tliis  leap,  than  he  deems  it  necessary 
to   jump    l)ack  again.     He  seems   to    apply  the  very  next 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    Si-C.  223 

verses  to  the  subject  just  dioniissed  :  but  in  a  note  on  the 
fortieth  and  forty-first  verses,  "  Then  shall  two  be  in  the 
field,"  &,c.  he  explicitly  says,  thiit  though  tiiese  words 
"  may  allusively  be  accommodated  to  the  day  of  judgment^ 
yet  he  doubts  not  they  originally  refer  to  the  destrucl  n  of 
Jerusalem,  to  which  alone  they  are  properly  applicable." 
He  now,  however,  determines  to  fly  for  the  last  time 
across  the  gulf  :  so,  he  adds,  "  I  humbly  conceive  that  the 
grand  transition,  about  which  commentators  are  so  much 
divideil,  and  so  generally  mistaken,  is  made  precisely  after 
these  two  verses.''^  Let  the  reader  then  examine  whether  he 
can  here  find  the  marks  of  "  the  grand  transition,"  so 
conspicuous  to  Dr.  Doddridge  :  or  whether  he  will  not 
rather  find  that  the  discourse  proceeds  in  the  same  unbroken 
series,  making  no  transition  but  from  the  announcement  of 
awful  facts,  to  the  deducing  from  them  of  wciglity  admo- 
nitions. Thus  Dr.  Doddridge's  well-meant  atten)pt  to  re- 
lieve the  hiatus  scheme  of  its  difficulties,  only  issues  in  a  de- 
monstration that  the  difficulties  are  insuperable. 

Now  what  unprejudiced  mind  can  resolve  to  maintain 
an  hypothesis  thus  incumbered  .''  When  it  is  so  evident  that 
the  whole  prophecy  is  so  connected,  that  the  events  really 
contemplated  by  its  Divine  Autiior  must  flow  in  uninter- 
rupted succession  ;  who  can  perseveringly  determine  to 
break  that  succession,  by  supposing  a  chasm  in  it,  of  two, 
three,  or,  perhaps,  ten  thousand  years  ?  How  much  more 
natural  and  easy  a  solution  of  the  whole  is  obtained,  when 
a  series  of  occurrences  relating  to  the  spiritual  state  of  man, 
is  regarded  as  the  principle  subject  in  the  mind  of  the 
Divine  Speaker  ;  when  the  whole  prophecy  is  considered 
as  describing  the  vicissitudes  of  religion  in  the  world,  and 
the  states  of  mankind  in  regard  to  religion,  from  the  time 
when  the  predictions  were  uttered  till  the  completion  of 
all  prophecy  ;  and  when  the  circumstances  attending  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  of  the  Jews  as  a  nation,  so 
far  as  they  are  referred  to  in  the  external  sense  of  the 


224  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

words,  are  viewed  as  types  of  that  part  of  the  series  which 
extends  to  tlie  consummation  of  "  the  mystery  of  iniqui- 
ty,"* and  which  is  antecedent  to  tlie  "  bringing  in  of  ev- 
erlasting righteousness  !"f 

If  it  should  here  be  asked,  Why  was  not  the  sequel  of 
the  prophecy  also  given  in  terms  that  would  have  admit- 
ted of  an  accommodation  to  historical  events  ?  it  may  be 
answered.  Because  this  was  impossible,  consistently  with 
the  plans  of  Providence,  and  the  state  of  mankind,  to  which 
the  plans  of  Providence  are  always  adapted.  If  the  con- 
summation of  "the  mystery  of  iniquity"  might  be  appro- 
priately prefigured  by  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the 
"  bringing  in  of  everlasting  righteousness"  must,  if  the 
same  style  of  prophecy  were  continued,  be  imaged  by  the 
restoration  and  eternal  prosperity  of  Jerusalem  :  but  as 
such  restoration  Avas  inconsistent  with  the  plans  of  Provi- 
dence, to  have  seemed  to  predict  it  in  connexion  with  an- 
nouncements actually  referring  in  their  lowest  sense  to  his- 
torical events,  would  have  led  to  unfounded  expectations. 
Although,  then,  in  the  spiritual  sense,  the  whole  of  the 
prophecy  flows  on  in  one  unbroken  series,  and  the  events, 
as  they  regard  the  spiritual  state  of  mankind,  proceed  in 
uninterrupted  succession,  that  part  of  them  which  did  not 
admit  of  being  typically  acted  on  the  external  theatre  of 
human  affiiirs,  is  described  by  images  of  a  totally  different 
character  from  the  former.  In  the  Revelation,  however, 
all  the  symbols  of  which  are  such  as  do  not  admit  of  a  li- 
teral interpretation,  the  concluding  imagery  forms  a  pro- 
per sequel  to  that  used  in  the  former  part  of  the  prophecy 
before  us  ;  for  while  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  describes  the 
corruptions  of  his  religion  under  the  type  of  the  calamities 
ending  in  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  Apocalyptic 
divine  depicts  its  perfect  restoration,  by  the  symbol  of  a 
"  new  Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven. "| 

*  5  Thnss.  ii.  7.  t   Dan.  ix.  24.  t   Rev.  xxi.  2. 


THE     SCRIPTITRES    ASSERTED,    &.C. 


oo; 


This  divine  boolc,  the  Revelation  of  JoTm,  furnishes,  al- 
so, other  decis-ive  evidence,  thiit  no  part  of  the  prophecies 
that  proceeded  from  the  immediate  lijjs  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  terminated  in  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem;  but  that 
the  circumstances  connected  with  that  event  are  merely 
noticed,  as  symbolizin;o;  events  of  far  higher  in^portance. 
The  Revelation  was  not  written,  as  is  admitted  by  most  of 
the  critics,  till  at  least  twenty  years  after  Jerusalem  had 
been  oveithrown;  and  yet,  in  that  book,  many  of  tlie  same 
prophetic  symbols  are  employed,  in  descril/ing  the  latter 
fortunes  of  the  Christian  Church,  as  are  used  by  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  in  tlie  prophecy  imder  consideration.  We 
there  read  of  "  the  temple  of  God,  and  the  altar;"  of  "  the 
court  which  is  without  the  temple,"  and  "  the  holy  city;" 
as  being  then  to  be  trodden  under  foot  by  the  gentiles,* 
just  as  if  the  overturning  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans  was 
yet  to  be  performed.  We  read  also  of  the  sun  becoming 
black,  and  the  moon  being  turned  into  blood,  and  the  stars 
of  heaven  falling  to  the  earth, f  just  as  in  the  passage  al- 
ready cited  from  Matthew.  It  is  likewise  said  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  as  in  the  Gospels,  "  Beliold,  he  cometh  with 
clouds  !"|  nnd  again,  John  says,  "  I  looked,  and  behold  a 
white  cloud,  and  upon  the  cloud  one  sat  like  unto  the  Son 
of  man."§  And  at  the  conclusion  of  the  book  we  read, 
"  He  which  testifieth  these  things  saith.  Surely  I  come 
cjuickly,  Amen  :"  to  winch  the  church  answers,  "  Even 
so,  come  Lord  Jesus. "||  Not  to  mention  numerous  other 
coincidences.  All  which  plainly  evince,  that  when  the 
same  things  are  stated  in  this  prophecy  of  Jesus  Christ, 
they  had  a  spiritual  meaning,  and  did  not  receive  a  final 
fulfilment  in  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 

The  inference  from  all  this  is  too  obvious  not  to  have 
been  seen  by  some  intelligent  Avriters  :  and  we  shall  not,  I 
apprehend,  much  err,  if  we  conclude  this  brancli  of  our  in- 

'   Ch.  xi.  1.2.     1   Cli.  vi.  12,  13.     j   Cli.  i.  7.     §    C)i.  xiv.  14.     ||  Cli.  x.xii.  30. 

29 


226  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

quiry  in  the  words  of  the  candid  and  learned  Jortin:  "  The 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  that  second  coining  of  the 
Son  of  man  to  take  vengeance  on  his  foes,  may  perhaps 
prefigure  the  destruction  of  Antichristian  tyranny,  and 
the  manifestation  of  Clirist,  that  is,  of  his  power  and  spi- 
rit; and  then  may  commence  a  better  and  happier  era,  and 
such  a  renovation  as  may  be  called  '  new  heavens  and  a 
new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.'  "* 

(3.)  What  then  must  be  the  specific  nature  of  that  "  re- 
novation," which  this  intelligent  author  saw  must  be  sig- 
nified by  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man,  in  the  clouds  of 
heaven,  with  power  and  great  glory  ?  and  what  light  do 
the  terms  of  the  prediction  afford,  respecting  the  means  by 
which  it  is  to  be  brought  about  ? 

We  need  not  stop  to  explain  the  words  by  which  this 
prediction  is  introduced  :  "  Immediately  after  the  tribula- 
tion of  those  days  shall  the  sun  be  darkened,  and  the  moon 
shall  not  give  her  light,  and  the  stars  shall  fall  from  hea- 
ven, and  the  powers  of  the  heavens  shall  be  shaken:"  for 
these  have  been  sufficiently  explained  in  the  remarks  we 
made  above,  when  noticing  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  manner  of 
interpreting  these  phrases. f  But  the  circumstances,  that 
he  who  is  to  come  is  called  the  Son  of  mon,  and  that  the 
mode  of  his  coming  is  announced  to  be  in  the  clouds  of  hea- 
ven ;  are  so  remarkable,  and  so  significant,  as  to  demand  a 
particular  consideration. 

(4.)  Whatever  may  be  meant  by  the  Lord's  prophecies 
respecting  his  second  advent,  and  whatever  the  time  at 
which  it  was  to  take  place  ;  it  is  now  generally  acknow- 
ledged, that  a  personal  coming  in  the  ethereal  clouds  can- 
not be  intended.  We  have  seen  how  Dr.  Doddridge,  with 
some  of  the  other  writers  who  apply  this  part  of  the  pro- 
phecy to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  understands  it:  and 

*  Jortin'e  Remarks  on  Ecclesiastical  Hiatory,  vol.  i.  p.  151,  Ed.  1805. 
t  P.  177. 173. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  227 

we  liave  noticed  what  violence  is  done  to  the  facts  of  his- 
tory by  such  an  apj)lication.  The  time  and  manner  of  the 
meteoric  appearance  mentioned  by  Josephus,  to  which 
they  refer  this  prediction,  were  the  following.  After  re- 
lating some  remarkable  circumstances  which  occurred  at 
the  feast  of  unleavened  bread,  not  only  prior  to  the  de- 
struction of  the  city,  but  "  before  the  Jeics^  rebellion.,  and  be- 
fore those  commotions  that  preceded  tlie  imrf  that  author  states, 
that  "  afcwdaxjs  after  that  feast  ^ — before  sun-setting,  chariots 
and  troops  of  soldiers  in  their  armour  were  seen  runnino- 
about  among  the  clouds,  and  surrounding  of  cities."*  Now, 
whether  this  was  the  same  sort  of  electric  phaenoinenon  as 
has  been  frequently  seen  elsewhere,  and  has  suggested  to 
many  observers  the  idea  of  armed  men  combating  in  the 
clouds  ;  or  whether,  as  some  wish  to  understand  it,  it  was 
a  real  miracle  ;  having  taken  place  several  years  before  the 
capture  of  Jerusalem,  it  cannot,  as  noticed  above,  have 
been  what  was  meant  by  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man  in 
heaven,  which  was  not  to  appear  till  after  that  event  :  and 
to  apply  so  weighty  a  prediction  to  such  an  occurrence,  is 
really  little  better  than  trifling  with  the  prophecies  of 
Scripture,  and  again  making  the  Word  of  God  of  none  ef- 
fect. Other  writers  therefore  are  of  opinion,  that  these 
words,  with  much  of  what  follows,  have  no  specific  mean- 
ing at  all,  but  are  only  intended  to  denounce  divine  judo-- 
ments  in  general. f  However  it  is  most  certain,  as  every 
person  of  plain  common  sense  will  conclude,  that  the 
words  of  Infinite  AVisdom, — the  declarations  of  Omnis- 
cience,— are  not  thus  to  be  emptied  of  their  meanino-,  and 
treated  as  if  they  were  idle  bombast  of  human  composition, 
— to  be  put  almost  on  a  level  with  the 


*  Jewish  War,  B.  vi.  ch.  5,  §  3.     (Whiston's  translation.) 
\  "  Tlien  shall  the  sign,  S^-c.     Then  shall  the   supreme  power  and  authority 
of  the  Messiah  so  conspicuously  appear,  that  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  shall 
acknowledge  him  in  this  dreadful  judgment."     Bcausobre  and  L'Enfant'e  Not«. 


228  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

" words 

*  Spoke  by  an  idiot  ;  full  of  sound  and  fury, 

Signifying  notliing." 

It  is  degrading  enough   to  divinely  inspired  writers,  such 
as  were  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament,  to  judge  of 
their  effusions  by  the  rides  of  ordinary  poetry,  (as  is  done 
even  by  critics  who  profess  to  esteem  them  most  highly,) 
and  to  suppose  that   the   expressive  symbols  with  which 
they  every  where  abound,  are  introduced  like  the  artificial 
figures  of  uninspired  authors, — merely  to  elevate  the  sub- 
ject in  a  general  manner,  but  without  any  specific  and  ap- 
propriated meaning  :  Init  to  imagine  that   he  who   spake  as 
never  man  spakej* — all  ivhose  loords  are  spirit  and  are  /?/e,f — 
should  not  be  above  the  tinsel  arts  of  rhetoric,  or  should 
be  capable  of  using   a  single  expression  without  a  specific 
meaning,  and  that  a  meaning  worthy  of  a  speaker  who  was 
the  Truth  Itself ;  is  indeed  to  form   derogatory  notions  of 
his  sacred  character,  and  of  the  nature  of  divine  language: 
it  is  plucking  down  heavenly  wisdom  from  above  tiie  stars, 
to  seat  her   in   the  dust.     Most   assuredly,  every  syllable 
that  ever  proceeded  from  tlie  lips  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
or  that  was  dictated  to  inspired  writers  by  his  spirit,  must 
have  had  a  specific,  determinate,  divine  meaning.     Thus, 
when  he  informs  us  of  so  important  a  fact  as  that  the  Son 
of  man   will  come  again  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  he  must 
intend  to  apprise  us  of  some  distinct,  definite,  great  event: 
and  every  word   of  the   prediction  must  have  a  distinct, 
definite,  spiritual  signification. 

It  is  remarkable,  that  all  the  passages  in  which  the  se- 
cond coming  of  the  Lord  is  foretold,  speak  of  it  as  an  ap- 
pearing of  him  in  heaven  or  the  sky,  and,  generally,  in  the 
clouds  :  It  is  remarkable  also,  that,  whenever  his  second 
coming  is  treated  of,  it  is  always  called  the  coming  of  the 
Son  of  man  ;  or,  if  other  words  are  used,  they  are  such  as 
bear,  spiritually,  the  same  meaning.     The  peculiar  appli- 

*   John  vii.  46.  t    Ch.  vi.  63. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &,C.  229 

caliility  of  this  phrase  to  this  event,  is  exemplified  in  an 
extraordinary  manner  in  the  answer  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the 
adjuration  of  the  high-priest  :  "  The  high-priest  said  unto 
him,  I  adjure  thee,  by  the  living  God,  that  thou  tell  us 
whether  thou  be  the  Son  of  God."  He  answered  in  the 
form  of  assent  customaiy  in  the  langtiage  in  which  he 
spoke,  "  Thou  hast  said  :"  but  immediately  proceeding  to 
announce  his  second  coming,  he  drops  the  title  which  he 
had  just  claimed  of  Son  of  God,  and  takes  instead  of  it 
that  of  Son  of  man;  saying,  "  Nevertheless  I  say  unto  you, 
that  hereafter  ye  shall  see  the  Son  o/inan  sitting  on  the  right 
hand  of  power,  and  coming  in  tlie  clouds  of  heaven."* 
There  is  in  fact  but  one  regular  prophetic  aiuiouncement 
of  the  second  coming  of  the  Lord,  in  which  the  Divine 
Being  who  is  to  come  is  not,  in  so  many  words,  stated  to 
bo  the  Son  of  man^  and  in  which  the  mode  of  his  coming 
is  not  affirmed  to  be  in  the  clouds  of  heaven:  and  in  that  one 
passage,  as  we  shall  see  presently,  such  other  words  are 
used,  as  mean,  in  their  genuine  sense,  precisely  the  same 
things. f 

We  proceed  then,  first,  to  investigate  the  meaning  of  the 
Lord's  title  of  the  Son  of  man.  We  will  begin  witli  exa- 
mining  tlie  manner  in  which  it  is  used  in  Scripture  ;  and 
having  first  discovered  its  signification  in  practice,  we  will 
state  the  grounds  of  it  in  Analogy. 

(5.)  A  very  remarkable  circumstance  connected  Avith 
the  u^e  of  the  phrase  "  Son  of  man,"  in  application  to  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  is  this;  that,  except  in  a  passage  of  Dan- 
iel and  two  in  the  Revelation,  it  is  never  applied  to  him 
except  by  his  own  mouth:  and  in  those  instances  is  not  ad- 
dressed to  him,  but  is  used  of  him,  by  prophets  speaking 

*  Matt.  xxvi.  63,  64.  Sec  also  Dan.  vii.  13,  14  ;  Matt.  xxiv.  30,  31  ;  Mark 
xiii.  20 ;  Luke  xxi.  27  ;  Rev.  i.  7,  compared  with  ver.  14  ;  Ch.  xiv.  14. 

f  We  do  not  here  include  the  notifos  of  this  event  contained  in  tiie  Apos- 
tolic Epistles,  those  notices  only  being  applications  of  the  propliirics  <leli\crcd 
by  JcEue  Christ  in  person,  not  original  predictions. 


2S0  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

under  inspiration  from  him.  The  phrases  "  Son  of  God," 
and  "  Son  of  man,"  occur,  in  reference  to  him,  with  near- 
ly equal  frequency,  and  are  each  mentioned  about  eighty 
times.  The  title  "  Son  of  God,"  though  sometimes  used 
by  himself,  is  much  oftener  applied  to  him  by  others  ; 
whereas  the  title  "  Son  of  man"  is  never  given  to  him,  ex- 
cept in  the  above  three  instances,  by  any  but  himself.  The 
reason,  no  doubt,  is,  because  the  phrase,  "  Son  of  man," 
in  common  apprehension,  bears  a  different  meaning  from 
that  which  it  carries  when  used  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
in  reference  to  himself; — because,  if  applied  to  him  with 
the  ideas  men  in  general  attach  to  it,  it  would  be  unsuitable 
and  derogatory:  and  therefore,  though  there  are  some  who 
prefer  to  speak  of  the  divine  Saviour  by  his  title  of  Son  of 
man,  meaning  by  it  just  wliat  the  words  in  their  ordinary 
acceptation  convey,  Paul  and  the  other  apostles,  who  knew 
that  in  this  acceptation  they  are  wholly  inapplicable  to 
their  glorified  Lord,  never  jiresumed  to  speak  of  him  by 
that  epithet.* 

It  is  commonly  supposed,  that  the  Lord  calls  himself  the 
Son  of  man  in  reference  to  his  birth  of  a  human  mother  : 
but  in  this  sense  it  would  be  entirely  unsuited  to  him  after 
his  resurrection  ;  because,  while  he  never  was  the  Son  of 
man  in  respect  to  what  men  in  general  receive  from  their 
fathers,  his  person,  as  most  divines  acknowledge,  under- 
went such  a  change  at  his  resurrection,  that  he  could  no 
longer  be  considered,  with  any  propriety,  as  the  Son  of 
Mary.  It  is  remarkable,  also,  that  even  while  he  was  in 
the  world,  though  he  continuallv  adverted  to  his  relation- 
ship  to  his  divine  Father,  he  never  acknowledged  any  to 
his  human  mother:  she  never  was  called  his  mother  by  his 
own  mouth  :  on  some  occasions  he  even  refused  to  own 
her  in  tliat  character  ;  and  although,  in  his  childhood,  it 
is  said  of  her  and  Joseph,  that  he  "  was  subject  unto  them;" 

*  Evidences  Pt.  ii.  C'liap.  iv.  §  3. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  231 

this  arose  from  the  necessity  of  the  case,  and  because  he 
was  willing  in  all  things  to  observe  the  laws  of  order  and 
"  to  fulfil  all  righteousness  ;"  yet  even  then  he  expressly 
disallowed  her  claims  to  parental  authority.*  So  also  he 
corrected  the  gross  conceptions  of  the  Jews  respecting  the 
Messiah,  as  being  the  Son  of  David,  in  a  manner  wliich 
plainly  shewed,  that,  as  to  his  person,  he  owned  no  affinity 
with  that  prince,  but  only  with  that  representative  charac- 
ter which  David  is  generally  admitted  to  have  borne:  for, 
after  quoting  the  passage  of  the  Psalms,  in  which  David 
says,  "  The  Lord  said  unto  my  lord,  Sit  thou  on  my  right 
hand  till  I  make  thine  enemies  thy  footstool,"  he  says,  "  If 
David,  in  sj)irit,  [or  by  the  spirit, — by  inspiration,]  call 
him  Lord,  how  is  he  then  his  son  ?"f  This  question  the 
Jews  were  imable  to  answer  :  no  more  can  theij  answer  it, 
who  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is  called,  in  a  merely  literal 
sense,  the  Son  of  man.  If  he  owns  no  proper  relationship 
with  David  as  a  man,  most  certainly  he  can  own  none  with 
any  other  human  being.  As  it  is  only  in  a  representative 
sense  that  he  is  the  Son  of  David,  so  is  it  only  in  a  repre- 
sentative sense  that  he  is  the  Son  of  man.  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, here  intended  to  investigate,  generally,  what  is  the 
true  character  and  nature  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or  to 
establish  any  doctrine  upon  that  subject ;  but  only  to  en- 
deavour to  ascertain  what  is  the  Scriptural  sense  of  the  ti- 
tle "  Son  of  man  :"  and  if  any  doubt  should  yet  remain 
whether  it  is  taken  by  the  Lord  in  reference  to  his  birth 
of  a  human  mother,  the  following  declaration,  which  af- 
firms the  omnipresence  of  the  divine  principle  so  named, 
should  remove  all  uncertainty:  Jesus  said,  "No  man  hath 
ascended  up  to  heaven,  but  he  that  came  down  from  heaven^ 
even  the  Son  of  man  which  is  in  hcaven.''''\  Now  certainly, 
if  we  understand  by  "  the  Son  of  man"  that  personal  form 

*  See  John  ii.  4.  Matt.  xii.  46  to  49.  Luke  ii.  49.     t  Matt,  x.xii.  41  to  4C. 

t  Jolin  iii.  Kl 


232  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

Avhich  tlie  Lord  took  from  Mary,  tJds  was  not  previously  in 
heaven,  and,  of  course  did  not  ••  come  down  from  heaven;" 
nor  was  this  Son  of  man,  when  speaking  these  words,  in 
heaven.  The  phrase  "  Son  of  man,"  must  then  mean  some 
divine  principle  which  is  not  controlled  liy  the  limitations 
of  space,  but  is  capable  of  being,  at  the  same  moment  of 
time,  in  heaven,  and  upon  earth. 

What  then  is  there,  among  the  peculiar  characters  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  which  this  description  is  appropriate? 
His  most  peculiar  character  is,  that  he  is  the  the  Word  : 
"  In  the  beginning  was  tlie  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with 
God,  and  the  Word  was  God. — And  the  Word  was  made 
flesh."*  What  is  the  Divine  Word,  but  the  Divine  Truth.? 
and  Jesus  Christ  declares  that  he  is  "  the  Truth."!  He 
is  also  the  Word  of  the  Father  :  and,  addressing  the  Father, 
he  says,  "  thy  Word  is  Truth. "|  Suppose,  then,  it  should 
be  in  reference  to  his  character  as  the  Word,  or  the  Truth, 
that  Jesus  Christ  calls  himself  the  Son  of  man.  Let  us  as- 
sume this  to  be  the  case  ;  and  let  us  see  how  this  idea  will 
agree  with  the  occasions  on  which  he  designates  himself  by 
this  title. 

For  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  tlie  Divine  Being  assumes, 
in  the  Scriptures,  a  great  variety  of  names  and  titles  ;  and 
it  cannot  be  imagined,  if  the  Scriptur-es  are  really  dictated 
by  Infinite  Wisdom,  that  these  are  ap})lied  in  an  irregular, 
capricious  manner.  In  the  Old  Testament  the  Lord  takes 
the  names  of  Jehovah,  the  Lord,  God,  the  Lord  Jehovah 
or  Lord  God,  Jehovah  Sabaoth  or  Lord  of  Hosts,  the 
Holy  One  of  Israel,  the  Mighty  One  of  Jacob,  the  Almighty, 
and  several  others  :  In  the  New  Testament  we  find  applied 
to  him  the  names  of  Jesus,  Christ,  the  Lord,  God,  the  Son 
of  God,  the  Son  of  man,  the  Prophet,  the  Lamb,  &c. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  there  is  some  distinction  of 
meaning  in  them  all  ;  as  also,  that  that  name  is  always  em- 

'  Jolin  i.  1,14.  I  Ch.  xiv.  C.  i  Ch.  xvii.  17. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    SiLC.  233 

ployed  which  best  suits  tlie  specific  occasion.  And  we  will 
venture  to  affirm  that  it  would  be  found,  on  an  examina- 
tion of  the  Go.-;pels,  that  when  the  divine  power  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  his  divinity,  his  unity  witli  the 
Father,  faith  in  him,  and  life  from  him,  are  the  subjects 
treated  of,  lie  calls  himself  "  the  Son,"  and  "  the  Son  of 
God  ;"  but  that  where  the  subjects  of  discourse  are  his 
passion,  judgment,  and,  in  general,  redemption,  salvation, 
and  reformation,  as  also  his  second  coming,  he  always  calls 
himself  the  Son  of  man.  Now  if  he  applies  this  title  to 
himself  in  reference  to  his  character  of  the  Divine  Truth, 
or  Word,  we  shall  easily  see  the  reason  why  he  employs  it 
on  these  occasions.  We  will  adduce  a  few  instances  by 
way  of  illustration. 

Several  examples  might  be  given  of  the  Lord's  using  this 
name  when  his  passion  is  treated  of ;  as  in  this  passage  : 
Jesus  said  to  his  disciples,  "  Behold,  we  go  up  to  Jerusa- 
lem ;  and  the  Son  of  man  shall  be  delivered  unto  the  chief 
priests,  and  unto  tlie  scribes  ;  and  they  shall  condemn  him 
to  death,  and  shall  deliver  him  to  the  Gentiles  ;  and  they 
shall  mock  him,  and  shall  scourge  him,  and  shall  spit  upon 
him,  and  shall  kill  him  :  and  the  third  day  he  shall  rise 
again."*  Were  it  not  for  the  distinct  meaning  of  the 
phrase,  "  Son  of  man,"  would  not  Jesus,  who  begins  the 
speech  in  the  first  person,  "  icc  go  up  to  Jerusalem,"  have 
continued  it  in  the  same  person,  and  have  said,  "  /shall  be 
delivered  to  the  chief  priests,"  &c.  ?  The  reason  why  he 
changed  the  person,  and  said  "  the  Son  of  man  shall  be  de- 
livered," &c.  ;  was,  because  lie  suffered  the  Jews  to  treat 
his  natural  body  in  a  manner  answering  to  that  in  which 
they  had  spiritually  treated  his  Word  ;  and  because  the 
sufferings  to  which  he  submitted,  represented,  by  an  exact 
analogy,  the  manner  in  which  the  Jews  had  perverted  the 
Word,  or  the   Divine  Truth    contained  in  it,    and  had  de- 

»Mark  x.  33,  34. 

30 


234  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OP 

prived  it,  as  to  themselves,  of  all  life,  having  "  made  it  of 
none  effect  by  their  traditions."  We  see  then  a  good  rea- 
son why,  when  foretelling  his  passion,  he  called  himself 
the  Son  of  man^  if  this  title  belongs  to  him  in  his  character 
as  the  Word. 

The  same  reason  will  account  for  his  always  calling  him- 
self//le  Son  of  man  when  judgment  is  treated  of.  Thus  he 
says,  in  the  sequel  of  the  prophecy  before  us,  "When  the 
Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory, — then  shall  he  sit  upon 
the  throne  of  his  glory  :  and  before  him  shall  be  gathered 
all  nations  ;  and  he  shall  separate  them  one  from  another, 
as  a  shepherd  divideth  his  sheep  from  the  goats  :"*  where 
judgment  is  evidently  the  subject,  and  the  Judge  is  called 
the  Son  of  man.  The  reason  is  explicitly  stated  in  the  fol- 
lowing passage  :  "  The  Father  judgeth  no  man,  but  hath 
committed  all  judgment  to  the  Son  ;"f — "  and,"  as  is  add- 
ed, a  little  below,  "  hath  given  him  authority  to  execute 
judgment  also  :" — Why  ? — "  because  he  is  the  Son  of  man  .-"I 
— a  reason  which  could  be  no  reason  at  all,  were  it  not  that 
this  title  designates  the  Lord  as  to  his  character  of  Divine 
Truth,  or  the  Word,  which,  all  know,  is  what  must  judge 
every  one  :  Accordingly,  the  Lord  says  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, "  If  any  man  hear  my  words  and  believe  not,  /judge 
him  not  :  for  I  came  not  to  judge  the  world,  but  to  save 
the  world  :  he  that  rejecteth  me,  and  receiveth  not  my 
words,  hath  one  that  judgeth  him  :  the  ivord  that  I  have 
spoken,  the  same  shall  judge  him  in  the  last  day."§  This 
proof  seeiris  demonstrative.  We  are  repeatedly  assured 
that  the  world  will  be  judged  by  the  Son  of  yuan  :  yet  Jesus 
declares  that  he  does  not  come  to  judge  in  person,  but  that 
his  word  is  what  judges  :  consequently,  when  he  takes  the 
title  of  Son  of  man,  it  must  be  in  reference  to  his  character 
as  the  Divine  Truth  or  Word. 

We  have  also  stated,  that,  for  the  same  reason,  the  Lord 

»  Matt.  XXV.  31,  32 :  tee  also  Ch.  xix.  28.     t  John  v.  22.     t  Ver.  27. 
§  John  xii.  47.  48. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  235 

is  called  the  Son  of  man  when  redemption,  salvation,  and 
reformation,  are  the  subjects  of  discourse.  Thus  we  read, 
"  The  Son  of  man  came  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  [or  redemp- 
tmi]  for  many  :"*  "  Tlie  Son  of  man  came  to  seek  and  to 
save  that  which  was  lost  :"f  "•  He  that  sowtlhgood  seed  is  the 
Son  of  man  :"J  with  many  similar  statements.  Now  as  the 
Lord  effects  these  works  in  and  for  man  by  means  of  his 
Truth  or  Word  ;  and  as  the  title,  "  Son  of  man,"  means 
the  Lord  as  to  the  Truth  or  the  Word  ;  therefore  he  as- 
sumes this  title  when  treating  of  these  his  divine  opera- 
tions. Admitting  this  idea,  in  all  the  instances  which  have 
been  adduced,  and  in  every  other  that  can  be  found,  the 
use  of  the  title,  "  Son  of  man,"  is  singularly  beautiful  and 
appropriate  :  upon  any  other  supposition,  it  is  impossible 
to  account  for  its  selection,  in  preference  to  any  other  of 
the  Lord's  divine  names. 

The  instances  then  in  which  the  Lord  speaks  of  himself 
as  the  Son  of  man,  appear  amply  to  evince,  that  he  always 
assumes  this  name  in  reference  to  his  character  as  the  Divine 
Truth  or  Word  :  but  a  passage  remains  to  be  mentioned 
which  alone  is  sufficient  to  make  it  certain.  We  have  seen 
above,  that  he  who  is  to  come  again,  is  constantly,  one  in- 
stance alone  excepted,  called  the  Son  of  man  :  that  instance 
is  in  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  the  Revelation,  where  the 
second  coming  of  the  Lord  is  described  in  these  words  : 
"  I  saw  heaven  opened,  and  behold  a  white  horse  ;  and  he 
that  sat  on  him  is  called  Faithful  and  True  ;  and  in  right- 
eousness doth  he  judge  and  make  war.  His  eyes  were  as 
a  flame  of  fire,  and  on  his  head  were  many  crowns  :  and  lie 
had  a  name  written  which  no  man  knew  but  he  him?elf  : 
and  he  was  clothed  in  a  vesture  dipped  in  blood.  And  his 
name  is  called  the  Word  of  God.''''§     Here  is  an  open  decla- 

*  Matt.  20.  28.  f  Ch.  xix.  10.  t  Matt.  xiii.  37. 

§  Ver.  11,  12,  13.  Observe  how  this  statement,  that  the  Word  of  God  wa? 
seen  in  heaven  riding  on  a  white  horse,  corroborates  the  signification  of  horses 
and  of  riding  on  them,  as  given  above,  p  211.     If  a  horse  denote*  the  und«r- 


236  FLENARr     INSPIRATION     OF 

ration,  that  it  is  in  his  character  as  the  Word  of  God^  that 
the  Lord  is  to  make  his  second  advent  :  but  in  every  other 
instance  it  is  said  that  he  is  to  come  as  the  Son  of  man  :  the 
inference  is  unavoidable,  that,  in  Scripture-language  the 
Sun  of  man  means  the  Word  of  God. 

(6.)  The  meaning  of  the  phrase,  "  Son  of  man,"  is  now, 
it  is  hoped,  pretty  clearly  established  by  its  use  in  Scrip- 
ture :  it  is  necessary  however  to  add  a  word  respecting  its 
ground  in  Analogy. 

It  was  briefly  shown  in  our  last  Lecture,  that  the  natural 
relation  between  a  son  and  his  father  exactly  answers  to 
that  which  exists  between  the  thoughts  of  the  understand- 
ing and  the  affections  of  the  will.  Reduce  a  man,  if  that 
were  possible,  to  a  state  of  entire  apathy,  so  that  he  should 
not  be  animated  by  any  affection  or  desire  whatever  ;  and 
his  torpor  would  be  so  complete,  that  he  would  not  be 
conscious  of  a  single  tliought  ;  he  would,  in  fact,  l>e  de- 
prived of  the  power  of  thinking.  Wherever  tliought  is  in 
exercise,  affection  is  in  exercise  ;  and  the  former  is  in  all 
cases  generated  by  the  latter.  No  one,  indeed,  while  life 
remains,  can  be  so  deprived  of  affection  of  every  kind,  and 
for  every  object,  as  to  become  void  of  thought  altogether  : 
yet  most  people  experience  seasons  in  which  their  thoughts 
are  less  active  than  at  others  ;  and  if  they  examine  the 
state  of  their  affections  at  such  times,  they  will  invariably 
find  them  to  be  listless  and  unexcited  :  "  on  the  contrary," 
as  observed  above,*  "  when  any  affection  is  in  high  excite- 
ment, how  active  are  the  thoughts  !  What  a  tumult  of 
ideas  ;  what  multitudes  of  reasonings,  crowd  into  the  in- 
tellect, when  violent  passions  agitate  the  will."  These  are 
facts  which  every  one  must  have  observed  ;  and  they  af- 
ford a  proof  which  is  demonstrative,  that  thought  is  the 
offspring  of  affection. 

standing  of  trutli,  and  to  ride  on  a  horse  to  communicate  instruction,  we  see  a 
beautiful  reason  why  the  ^\'ord  of  God  personified  was  seen  in  that  action. 

"  P.  142. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  237 

But  what  is  the  object  of  all  man's  affections,  but  good- 
ness ?  not  indeed,  in  all  cases,  goodness  which  is  really- 
such,  but  what  he  chooses  to  consider  as  such.  Evil  is  too 
often  substituted  for  goodness  in  man's  affections  :  but 
then,  it  is  never  evil,  as  evil,  which  he  makes  the  object  of 
his  attachment  ;  but  evil  appearing  to  him  as  good  :  what- 
ever he  loves,  he  loves  for  the  sake  of  something  in  it  which 
he  finds  deliglitful  to  him,  and  which  he  deems  a  good. 
Good  then,  either  really  or  mistakenly  such,  is  always  the 
object  of  man's  love  or  affections.  In  like  manner,  truth, 
or  something  that  may  be  referred  to  truth,  is  always  the 
material  of  his  thoughts.  His  opinions  may  be  false  ;  but 
they  are  true  to  him  ;  and  he  dwells  on  and  maintains 
them  as  truth.  A  man's  thoughts,  likewise,  or  the  opinions 
which  in  his  heart  he  accounts  to  be  true,  always  take  a 
character  from  his  affections,  and  from  the  objects  which 
he  accounts  to  be  good.  Whatever  he  loves,  he  also  loves 
to  think  of.  If  it  is  an  object  in  prospect,  his  thoughts 
run  upon  the  means  of  obtaining  it  ;  if  in  possession,  Iiis 
thoughts  dwell  upon  the  satisfaction  which  he  finds  in  it. 
There  are,  then,  various  considerations  which  may  con- 
vince us,  that  there  is  the  same  relation  between  Good  aisd 
Truth,  as  there  is  between  Affection  and  Thought  :  the 
one  may  be  considered  as  an  outbirth,  which  discovers  the 
existence  and  the  qualitv  of  the  other  :  and  as  Thou'-lit 
is  manifestly  the  offspring  of  Affection,  so  is  Truth  the 
progeny  of  Good.  In  tlie  language  then  of  analogy, 
Truth  would  be  called  tlie  son,  and  Good  the  father. 

According  to  this  view,  it  will  easily  be  seen,  wliy  "  the 
Word"  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures,  which  we  have  al- 
ready seen  is  another  name  for  "  the  Truth,"  is  called,  in 
the  language  of  Analogy,  "  the  Son  of  God  ;"  and  thus  it 
will  also  be  seen,  that  the  phrase,  "  the  Son  of  God,"  de- 
cyphered  by  the  laws  of  Analogy,  means  "the  Divine 
Truth."  This  explanation  will  not  resolve  "  the  Son  of 
God"    into  a  mere  attribute,  and  nothing  more,  if  all  that 


238  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

is  said  on  the  subject  in  the  Scriptures  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration ;  nor,  indeed,  if  reason  alone  be  consulted.  For 
thouffh  we  can  form  an  idea  of  Truth,  or  of  Divine  Truth, 
abstractedly,  as  a  property  or  attribute,  yet  we  readily 
perceive  that  a  mere  property  or  attribute  is  nothing, 
separate  from  a  personal  being  whose  property  or  attribute 
it  is.  The  Son  of  God,  then,  of  the  Scriptures,  is  th€ 
Divine  Truth  personified  ;  as  is  evident  from  its  being  a 
name  peculiarly  given  to  "  the  Word  made  flesh,"  and 
never  used  till  the  Word  was  made  flesh,  otherwise  than  in 
reference  to  that  event. 

But  although  it  must  easily  be  seen,  that,  in  the  lan- 
oruage  of  Analogy,  the  Divine  Truth  may  be  properly  call- 
ed the  Son  of  God  ;  it  inay  not  so  immediately  be  dis- 
covered, why,  as  stated  above,  the  Divine  Truth  is  also 
called  the  Son  of  man.  Here  then  it  is  necessary  to  ob- 
serve, tliat  though  the  Divine  Truth  is  described  by  both 
tliese  names,  they  respectively  refer  to  it  under  a  different 
form  ;  so  that  the  appearance  of  the  Divine  Truth  which 
is  designated  by  the  title  "•  Son  of  man,"  is  lower  and 
more  external  than  that  Avhicii  is  designated  by  the  title 
"  Son  of  God,"  which  is  respectively  higher  and  more 
internal.  The  one  is  the  pure  Divine  Truth  as  proceeding 
from  the  bosom  of  Divine  Love,  and  not  yet  intelligible 
to  created  beings,  but  in  its  first  preparation  for  becoming 
so  :  the  other  is  the  Divine  Truth  under  an  accommodated 
form,  adapted  to  the  capacities  of  apprehension  and  recep- 
tion in  finite  and  human  creatures.  This  will  account  for 
its  being  called  the  Son  of  man.  In  no  state  whatever 
does  the  Divine  Truth  proceed  from  man  :  man  can  never 
be  the  author  of  it  :  yet  it  is  on  account  of  man  that  it  is 
presented  in  the  form  of  which  we  are  here  speaking  :  and 
being  so  accommodated  for  his  sake,  and  by  bringing  it 
within  the  sphere  of  the  human  intellect  as  that  exists  both 
in  this  world  and   in   the  worlds    beyond  the  grave,    it  is 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  239 

agreeable  to  analogy  to  denominate  it,  thus  manifested,  the 
Son  of  man. 

The  Son  of  God,  then,  in  the  symbolic  language  of  Ana- 
logy and  of  the  Scriptures,  is  the  pure  Divine  Truth  itself  ; 
the  Son  of  man  is  the  same  Divine  Truth  so  modified  as  to 
be  accommodated  to  human  reception.  Both  titles,  beside 
this  abstract  meaning,  also  refer  to  the  Divine  Truth  ])er- 
sonified  in  the  form  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.* 

(7.)  If  then  the  title  Son  of  man,  in  the  language  of 
Scripture,  founded  in  that  of  Analogy,  is  appropriated  to 
the  Lord  in  his  character  as  the  Word  ;  it  is  easy  to  see 
that  the  "  renovation"  of  pure  Christianity  which  is  in  ge- 

*  It  will  corroborate  what  is  advanced  above,  here  to  observe,  fiovv  natural- 
ly the  idiom  of  the  language  in  which  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament  are 
written,  coincides,  frequently,  with  the  language  of  Analogy.  In  the  language 
of  Analogy,  we  have  seen  that  the  term  Sow.  denotes  a  relationship  different 
from  that  of  natural  generation  ;  and  in  the  Hebrew  idiom  it  is  often  applied  to 
things  which  are  not  literally  connected  by  any  such  relationship.  Thus  in 
the  original  of  Job  v.  7,  sparks  are  called  "  the  sons  of  the  burning  coal ;"  an 
arrow,  again,  is  "  the  son  of  the  bow,"  [ch.  xli.  28,]  or  arrows  are  "  the  sons 
of  the  quiver,"  [Lam.  iii.  13.]  So,  a  fruitful  hill  is  "  a  horn  the  son  of  oil" 
[Isa.  v.  1,]  a  valiant  man  is  "  the  hereof  strength,"  [1  Sara.  xiv.  52,]  and  a  jJcr- 
son  in  danger  of  dying, — fitted  for  it,  as  it  were,  by  circumstances, — is  "  a  son 
of  death."  [1  Sam.  xxvi.  16,  2  Sam.  xii.  5.]  Gussetius  (in  his  Comment.  Ling. 
Hch.  sub  voce  nJ3)  reckons  ten  classes  of  the  figurative  application,  in  the 
Old  Testament,  of  the  term  so7i ;  and  as  the  New  Testament,  though  written 
in  Greek,  follows,  in  its  language,  the  Hebrew  idiom,  he  shews  that  all  these 
uses  of  the  word  have  their  parallels  in  the  writings  of  the  Evangelists  and 
Apostles.  If  then  a  spark  is  termed  "  the  son  of  the  coal,"  and  an  arrow  "  the 
son  of  the  bow,"  or  of"  the  quiver"  as  proceeding  thence  ;  most  properly  is  the 
Divine  Truth,  as  proceeding  from  the  Divine  Essence,  or  Divine  Good,  deno- 
minated "  the  Son  of  God" — "  the  Only-begotten  of  the  Father:"  and  it  a  per- 
son in  the  prospect  of  certain  or  imminent  death,  is  called  '•'  a  son  of  death," 
hacdiWBe.  fitted  for  it,  and  as  it  were  appointed  to  it,  as  the  phrase  is  sometimes 
rendered  in  the  English  version  ;  [Ps.  Ixxix.  11.  cii.  20  ;]  most  properly  is  the 
Divine  Truth  named  "  the  Son  of  man,"  when  adapted  to  human  apprehension. 

Another  instance,  connected  with  the  present  subject,  of  the  agreement  or 
the  Hebrew  tongue  with  the  language  of  Analogy,  may  also  be  worth  remark- 
ing ;  it  is,  that  as,  in  the  language  of  Analogy,  the  term  father  has  reference  to 
the  principle  of  lore  or  good,  or  to  will  in  general  ;  so  the  word  by  which  it  is 
expressed  in  Hebrew,  is  derived  from  a  root  which  signifies  to  vnll  or  desire. 


240  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

neral  indicated  by  the  predictions  respecting  the  second 
coming  of  the  Loid  as  the  Son  of  man,  must  be  brought 
about  by  a  renewed  and  more  extensive  discovery  of  the 
divine  truth  of  his  AVord.  But  how  does  this  agree  with 
the  announcement,  that  "  they  should  see  the  Son  of  man 
coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and  great  glo- 
ry ?"  What  can  those  clouds  be,  in  which  the  Son  of 
man,  or  the  Lord  as  to  his  Divine  Truth,  will  make  his 
advent  ? 

It  will  go  a  good  way  towards  putting  our  conceptions 
in  a  right  train  upon  this  question,  to  notice,  (what  seems 
generally  to  have  been  much  overlooked,)  that  the  cir- 
cumstance of  the  Lord's  having  an  abode  in  the  clouds,  is 
by  no  means  discovered  for  the  first  time  in  the  predictions 
relatinoj  to  his  second  coming.  All  that  is  at  all  new  in 
this  respect,  in  these  predictions,  is,  that  the  Lord  will 
then  be  seen  coming  in  the  clouds;  which  is  never  stated  in 
reference  to  his  first  coming  in  the  flesh:  but  that  he  at  all 
times  shelters  his  glory  in  the  clouds,  or  has  his  residence 
behind  or  within  them,  and  uses  them  as  a  vehicle,  was 
known  in  the  time  of  David,  and  of  Moses.  The  latter 
says,  "  There  is  none  like  unto  the  God  of  Jeshurun,  who 
ridetli  upon  the  heavens  in  thy  help,  and  in  his  excellency 
upon  the  sky  ;"*  where  the  word  translated  the  sky,  is  one 
which  in  many  other  places  is  rendered  the  clouds.  But 
the  book  of  Psalms  abounds,  more  than  any  other  book  of 
the  Holy  Word,  with  magnificent  descriptions  of  the  Lord, 
and  of  the  modes  of  his  appearance;  and  there  we  find  him 
continnally  spoken  of  as  attended  with  clouds.  We  will 
here  only  notice  one  sublime  passage,  which  alone  is  suffi- 
cient to  instruct  us  in  the  meaning  of  this  important  sym- 
bol. 

The  hundred-and-fourth  Psalm  commences  thus:  "  Bless 
the  Lord,  0  my  soul  !  0  Lord  my  God,  thou  art  very 
great,  thou   art   clothed  with  honour  and  majesty  :  who 

"  Dent,  xxxiii.  26. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C,  241 

coverest  thyself  with  light  as  with  a  crari;;ent;  who  strctch- 
est  out  the  heavens  like  a  curtain  :  who  laycth  the  beams 
of  his  chambers  in  the  waters  ;  wiio  niaketh  the  clouds  his 
chariot;  who  walketh  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind."  Who- 
ever will  consult,  with  this,  the  other  passages  in  which 
clouds  are  mentioned  in  the  same  book,*  must  be  satisfied, 
that  some  spiritual  thing  of  which  clouds  are  the  proper 
emblems  is  continually  ascribed  in  the  Holy  Word  to  Je- 
hovah, as  a  regular  appendage  of  his  ineffable  majesty,  and 
must  be  convinced,  that  though  they  are  called  the  clouds 
of  heaven  and  the  clouds  of  the  sky.)  tlie  vapoury  clouds  that 
surround  the  earth,  and  the  visible  heavens  or  sky  in  which 
they  float,  are  not  the  things  really  intended. 

It  is  first  to  be  observed,  as  a  general  remark,  that  the 
phaenomena  of  nature,  when  adverted  to  in  the  Word  of 
God,  are  not  regarded  in  the  manner  in  which  they  are 
understood  by  philosophers,  Avhen  this  differs  from  their 
ap[)earance  to  the  senses,  but  are  always  spoken  of  in  the 
popular  way  in  which  they  strike  an  ordinary  observer  : 
for  the  design  of  Scripture  is,  not  to  giv^e  lessons  in  natu- 
ral philosophy,  but  of  spiritual  wisdom,  only  using  the 
images  taken  from  nature  for  that  purpose.  Thus  the 
Scriptures,  when  they  allude  to  the  motion  of  the  sun,  al- 
ways seem  to  assume  it  to  be  real,  speaking  of  it  as  rejoic- 
ing to  run  its  course,  and  the  like  ;  without  saying  any 
thing  of  the  real  fact,  so  different  from  the  appearance, 
that  it  is  not  the  sun  which  moves,  but  the  earth.  Thus 
again  the  truth  of  philosophy  informs  us,  that  the  clouds 
do  not  so  properly  belong  to  tiie  heavens  or  sky,  as  to  the 
earth,  being  nothing  but  a  collection  of  watery  particles 
exhaled  from  the  earth  and  sea,  and  forming  a  sort  of  hol- 
low sphere  at  a  small  distance  from  the  terraqueous  globe: 
whereas,  to  the  eye  alone,  they  appear  as  the  lowest  basis 
of  the  ethereal  regions, — as  a  sort   of  floor  spread  under 

t  See  particularly  Ps.  xviii.  10.11,  wxvi.  5,  Ixviii.  3*2,33,  34,  xcvii.  1 .  2, 
cviii.  3,  4. 

31 


242  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

the  starry  heavens.     So  do   the  starry  heavens  themselves 
appear  to  be  very  dilferent  froai  what  they  are  ascertained 
to  be  by  science,  wearing  the  appearance  of  a  blue  arch  of 
some  positive  substance,  with  the  heavenly  bodies,  as  they 
are  called,  stuck  on  it  :   whereas   the  heavenly  bodies  are 
known  to  be  other  suns  and  worlds  suspended  by  some  in- 
conceivable power  in  the  immensity  of  space  :    whilst   the 
blueness  of  the  seeming  vault  of  the  sky  is  merely  the  con- 
sequence  of  our  looking   into   a   dark  void   through   the 
denser  atmosphere  which  surrounds  the  earth,  and  which 
is  illuminated  with  the  light  of  the  sun  or  inoon.     Now  it 
is   according   to   these   appearances,  that  the   heavens  and 
ethereal  regions,  from  the  highest  part  of  them,  whicli  ap- 
pears studded  with  stars,  to   the  lowest   which  is  bounded 
by  clouds,  are  considered  in  the  Holy  Word  ;  and  this  for 
the  sake  of  the  exactly  suitable  emblems  which  they  thus 
afford  for  the  conveyance  of  instruction  in  divine  subjects. 
With  this  sort  of  picture,  then,  of  the  visible  heavens  in  our 
thoughts,  let  us  see  how  the  Science  of  Analogies  will  help  us 
to  imderstand  the  passage  we  have  quoted  fiom  the  Psalms. 
"  0  Lord  my  God,  thou  art  very  great,  thou  art  clothed 
Willi  honour  and  majesty."     Here  we   have  a  description 
of  the  Lord,  as  he  is  in  himself,  and  in  the  first  emanation 
of  his  divine  energies,  as  they  proceed  to  impart  spiritual 
life  to  his  creatures.     When  he  is  said  to  be  "  very  great," 
the  reference  is  to  his  infinity,  his  unfathomable  greatness, 
his  inconceivable  love,  as  it   exists  in  himself,  beyond  the 
remotest  comprehension  of  any  finite  creature  :  and  w^hen 
it  is  said,  "  thou   art   clothed  with  honour  and  majesty," 
the  reference  is  to  the  first  putting  forth  of  his  divine  ex- 
cellencies  of  love  and  wisdom,  in  a  sphere  of  intense  ar- 
dour without  him,  and  forming  as  it  were  "  a  sun  of  right- 
eousness   with  healinff  in  its  ravs," — that   beneficent  foun- 
tain  of  life  to  all  creatures,  of  which  it  is  said  in  the  gospel 
that  the  Lord  "  maketh  his  sun  to  rise   on  the  evil  and  on 
the  good."     This  is  considered,  in  refci-ence  to  the  images 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &:C.  243 

drawn  from  the  visible  heavens,  presently  made  use  of,  as 
beyond  any  thing  that  the  eye  can  reach, — as  exceeding 
the  highest  limits  of  the  firmament.  Then  it  follows, 
"  Who  coverest  thyself  with  light  as  with  a  garment  ;" 
whicb  is  an  image  taken  from  the  lucidity  that  fills  Hie 
visible  heavens,  and  which  might  naturally  be  regarded  as 
the  first  covering  of  that  still  higher  region,  supposed  to 
be  the  seat  of  God's  immediate  presence.  As  he  no  Avhere 
in  nature  presents  himself  to  the  sight,  a  mind  acknowledg- 
ing his  existence,  yet  drawing  its  ideas  from  the  appear- 
ances of  the  heavens  uncorrected  by  science,  would  readily 
conceive  the  immediate  abode  of  Deity  to  be  above  all  that 
the  eye  can  reach,  and  concealed  from  its  view  by  the  lu- 
cid mantle  of  the  starry  heaven.  We  well  know,  however, 
that  this  cannot  be  the  case.  We  know  that  the  starry 
heaven  is  in  fact  below  us  as  well  as  above  us,  so  that  all 
height  therein  is  merely  relative  to  the  situation  of  our 
globe  at  any  given  moment  ;  wherefore  it  is  in  vain  to 
think,  by  soaring  in  imagination  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
visible  heavens,  to  find  the  immediate  throne  of  God. 
Consequently,  the  light  which  we  behold  in  the  firmament 
is  not  the  garment  with  which  the  Lord  covereth  himself: 
yet  it  is  here  spoken  of  as  if  it  were  :  and  why  ?  because 
it  is  the  proper  symbol  and  representative  of  something 
which  really  is  so.  We  have  noticed,  in  our  last  Lecture, 
what  the  spiritual  thing  is  of  which  light  is  the  appropri- 
ate emblem.  It  is  indeed  so  obvious,  that  every  one  sees 
it  at  the  first  glance:  and  common  language  retains  the  use 
of  the  symbol,  as  an  elegant  way  of  designating  the  thing 
to  which  it  answers  in  spiritual  analogy.  What  is  more 
usual  than  to  talk  o(  the  light  of  truth  and  the  darkness  of  ig- 
norance^— to  speak  of  writings  or  sentiments  as  containing 
light  in  them,  or  the  contrary,  when  we  mean  that  they 
are  irradiated  or  otherwise  with  the  beams  of  truth  ?  The 
light  then  with  which  the  Lord  covereth  himself  as  with 
a  garment,  is  the  Divine  Trulli  proceeding  from,  and  in- 


244  PLENARr    INSPIRATION    OF 

vesting,  his  Divine  Good, — containing  also  the  Divine 
Good,  which  is  spiritual  heat,  in  its  bosom,  and  thus  je- 
creating  with  its  rays  all  the  angelic  hosts. 

We  pass  over  a  few  words,  the  explanation  of  which  is 
not  essential  to  the  inquiry  before  us,  to  notice  those  which 
say  of  the  Lord,  that  "  he  maketh  the  clouds  his  chariot." 
The  clouds,  as   observed  above,  are  usually  considered  in 
Scripture  merely  as  the  lowest  liase  of  the  visible  heavens, 
and  as  forming   a  covering   or  shade  to   the  resplendent 
light  that  glows  above  them  :    hence  as  the  light  signifies 
the  divine  Truth   in  all  the  glory  of  its  essentially  divine 
and  spiritual  nature,  the  clouds  signify  the  Divine  Truth 
in  comparative  obscurity,  or  when  shaded  over  by  appear- 
ances suited  to,  and,  in  some  respects,  taken  from,  the  ideas 
of  the  merely  natural  man.     Here  the  truth  of  natural  phi- 
losophy will  help  to  illustrate  the   subject.     Although  the 
clouds  appear  to  belong  to  the  heavens,  they  in  reality  are 
composed  of  exhalations  fiom  the  earth  :  yet  they  are  al- 
ways irradiated,  more   or  less,  by  light  from  the'^ethereal 
regions,  which  they  transmit  to  the  earth.     Thus  they  apt- 
ly represent  the  Divine  Truth  that  proceeds  from  the  Lord, 
when  enveloped  in  a  covering  of  natural  images  and  natu- 
ral ideas,  taken  from  the  perceptions  of  man   in  a  natural 
state  of  existence.     As  light,  which  is  previously  mention- 
ed, represents,  and  is  the  appropriate  symbol  of,  the  Divine 
Truth  as  it  is  perceived  in  heaven,  and  by  illuminated, spi- 
ritual minds,  so  the  clouds   represent,  and  are  the  equally 
appropriate   images   of,  the   Divine   Truth  as   it   exists  on 
earth,  conveyed   in  natural   language,   and  clothed   with 
ideas  and  imajies  taken  from  the  world  of  nature.     Thus 
they  exactly  typify  the  Holy  Word,  as  we  possess  it,  writ- 
ten in  a  book;  that  is,  they  represent  and  signify  the  Word 
in  its  literal  sense,  in  which  it  is  Divine  Truth  in  its  shade, 
or  in  its  lowest  or  ultimate  form,  adapted  and  modified  to 
the  conceptions  of  man   considered  even  as  a  natural  and 
carnal  being;  but  within  which,  or  in  its  spiritual  sense,  is 
Divine  Truth  in  its  clearness  and  glory,  adapted  to  illumi- 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  245 

nate  with  heavenly  wisdom  the  most  refined  intellect  of 
man  considered  as  a  spiritual  being,  and  of  pure  spirits 
themselves. 

But  to  point  out  more  distinctly  what  we  mean  when 
we  speak  of  Divine  Truth  in  its  clearness  and  Divine 
Truth  in  its  shade  ;  or  between  Divine  Truth  as  represent- 
ed by  the  light  of  the  firmament  and  Divine  Truth  as  im- 
aged by  the  clouds  of  heaven;  it  may  be  expedient  to  give 
an  example.  Every  sentence  of  the  Divine  Word  will  af- 
ford us  one;  though  the  difference  between  these  two  kinds 
of  Divine  Truth  will  appear  more  striking  in  some  exam- 
ples than  in  others.  Let  us  take  tiie  prophecy  which  we 
are  considering:  "  They  shall  see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in 
the  clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and  great  glory."  Here, 
all  the  expressions  made  u^e  of,  are  images  taken  from  the 
world  of  nature  :  such  are  tlie  terms  Son  of  man,  clouds, 
power,  and  glory.  It  is  obvious  that  tlie  sense  which  re- 
sults from  the  mere  com!)ination  of  the  words,  or  the  lite- 
ral sense,  cannot  be  that  intended  by  the  Divine  Speaker  ; 
still,  if  the  words  were  spoken  by  tlie  Lord  himself,  they 
must  be  Divine  Truth  :  of  course  they  must  be  Divine 
Truth  in  its  lowest  form,  or  in  its  shade,  in  which  the  ge- 
nuine meaning  is  veiled  over  in  such  a  manner  as  not  im- 
mediately  to  be  seen,  although  it  nevertheless  is  actually 
contained  within  them.  The  genuine  meaning  is,  that  the 
Lord,  Avho  is  the  Divine  Truth  itself,  will  discover  him- 
self, or  impart  a  just  knowledge  concerning  himself  and 
the  things  of  his  kingdom,  by  opening  the  literal  sense  of 
the  Holy  Word,  and  disclosing  its  spiritual  contents. 
This,  then,  is  that  Divine  Truth  contained  in  these  words, 
which  is  rpj)resented  by  the  emblem  of  light  or  glory;  but 
the  words  themselves,  and  the  literal  sense  of  them,  are 
the  clouds  by  which  the  light  is  shaded  and  veiled  over, — 
the  "  covering  upon  the  glory."* 

•  Iga.  iv.  5. 


246  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

To  draw  a  general  remark  from  this  example,  it  may  be 
observed,  tliat  it  illustrates  the  manner  in  which  the  Holy 
Word  is  wiitten  throughout  ;  only  there  is  a  great  variety 
in  the  density  of  the   veil  which   the  cloud  of  the  literal 
expression  throws  over  the  glory  of  its  spiritual  contents. 
In  nature  there  are  clouds  of  very  diffeient  kinds,  varying 
from  a  degree  of  density  that  almost  excludes  entirely  the 
light  of  heaven,  to  a  thinness  which   presents  scarcely  any 
impediment  to  the  illuminating  rays  :    and  just  such  is  the 
varying  character  of  the  letter  of  the  Scriptures,  consider- 
ed  as   a   covering  to  the  genuine  Divine  Truth  contained 
witliin.     In  many  passages,  as  in  that  before  us,  the  cloud 
of  the  letter  is  so  thick,  that  nothing  more  of  the  genuine 
truth  shines  through  than  this  ; — that   some  extraordinary 
divine  interference  will  at  some  period  take  place  :   but  of 
the  nature  of  this  interference,  the  letter  alone  gives  us  no 
information.     In   some   parts   of  the    Divine    Word,    the 
clouds  of  the   letter  are  thicker  still  ;  as   is  the  case  in  all 
those  jiassages  from  which,  if  taken   alone,  sentiments  re- 
ally contrary  to  the  genuine  truth  might  be  deduced:  such 
are  the  passages  whicli  seem  to   ascribe   malignant  feelings 
to  the  Divine  Being,  and  which  represent  him  as  changing 
his  miiid,  or  as   being  in  any  way  subject  to  human  infir- 
mities.    But  in  other  parts  the  clouds  of  which  the  letter 
is  comj)osed  are  of  so  thin  a  texture,  that  the  light  of  the 
genuine  truth  within  is  translucent  through  it  ;  as   is  the 
case  in  the  law  of  the  decalogue,  and  in  many  of  the  Lord's 
precepts  in  the  Gospel.     In   fact,  all  that  is  absolutely  ne- 
cessary to  salvation,  is,  in  various  part  of  the  Word,  plain- 
ly revealed;  and  all  such  passages,  though  forming  part  of 
what  the  Scripture   calls   clouds,  are,  nevertheless,  bright 
a!i(l  transj)arent  clouds,  such  as  suffer  the  rays  of  heavenly 
light  freely  to  j)ass  through  them.      Still,  clear  and  bright 
though  the  clouds  of  the  letter  in  many  places  are,  they  do 
not  cease    to  l)c   clouds,  and  are  not   that  undiluted  light 
wiih  wiiich  the  Lord  covers  his  immediate  majesty  as  with 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  247 

a  garment.  Though  a  great  portion  of  the  literal  sense  of 
the  Word  of  God  presents  us  with  genuine  truth,  yet  every 
part  of  it  contains  stores  of  light  still  more  resplendent 
within.  Every  part  of  the  letter  is  a  cloud,  though  often 
a  beautiful  and  bright  cloud;  and  every  part  of  it  contains 
a  more  brilliant  glory  in  its  bosom. 

Surely  it  were  much  to  be  wished,  that  mankind  in  gen- 
eral could  be  brought  to  view  the  Scriptures  in  this  exalt- 
ing light  !  How  entirely  would  the  mists  of  infidelity  be 
dispersed  before  it  !  How  completely  would  the  whole  of 
Sacred  Writ  be  seen  to  be  in  liarmony  with  the  purest  at- 
tributes of  God,  and  with  the  highest  reason  of  man  !  And, 
surely,  it  is  easy  to  see,  that  there  may  exist  a  distinction, 
in  the  Scriptures,  between  Divine  Truth  in  its  clearness 
and  Divine  Truth  in  its  sliade,  and  that  the  former  is  con- 
tained in  their  truly  spiritual  meaning,  and  the  latter  in 
their  literal  sense  ;  and  also,  how  aptly  they  are  repi  esent- 
ed  by  the  light  of  the  firmament,  or  the  glory  which  is  al- 
ways spoken  of  as  surrounding  the  Divine  Presence,  and 
the  clouds  which  veil  it  !  Surely,  tlie  prophecy  before  us 
clearly  proves  the  existence  of  this  distinction,  and  of  these 
senses.  When,  indeed,  we  first  hear  it  advanced,  that 
clouds,  in  Holy  Writ,  when  mentioned  in  respect  to  the 
Lord,  signify  Divine  Truth  clothed  with  natural  ideas  and 
images,  or  tlic  Divine  Word  in  its  literal  sense,  the  asser- 
tion may  seem  arbitrary  and  foreign  to  the  subject  :  yet 
how  natural  does  it  appear  on  reflection  !  If,  as  is  unde- 
nialile,  the  light  of  the  firmament  is  an  appropriate  symbol 
of  Divine  Truth  in  its  purity  ;  if  it  thus  is  seen  that  there 
is  between  pure  light  and  pure  trutli  a  certain  and  unaltera- 
ble analogy  or  mutual  relation,  so  that  to  mention  the  one 
when  we  mean  the  other  is  a  highly  expressive  form  of 
speaking,  grounded  in  the  very  nature  and  constitution  of 
things  ;  then,  when  the  relation  between  the  light  of  the 
firmament  and  the  clouds  is  examined,  it  will  be  found  to 


248  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

be  exactly  similar  to  that  between  pure  spiritual  truth,  seen 
in  its  unclouded,  abstract  nature,  and  the  same  truth  veil- 
ed over  with  symbolic  language,  or  invested  with  a  cover- 
ing of  images  taken  from  the  world  of  nature  and  the  ideas 
of  man  in  his  natural  state  of  existence  ;  or  between  tlie 
interior  contents  of  the  Holy  Word  and  its  literal  form  : 
and  thus  it  will  be  seen,  that  to  speak  of  clouds  when  there- 
by is  meant  the  literal  sense  of  the  Holy  ^\  ord,  is  a  mode 
of  expression  which  is  also  founded  in  the  very  nature  and 
immut;!ble  relations  of  things. 

(8.)  The  meaning  then  of  this  prophecy,  and  the  means 
by  which  the  "  renovation,"  which  Dr.  Jortin  saw  must 
be  intended  by  it,  will  be  brought  about,  may  now,  it  is 
hoped,  be  sufficiently  evident.  If  it  be  true  that  by  the 
clouds  are  signified  Divine  Truth  in  its  lowest  or  ultimate 
form,  which  is  the  same  thing  as  the  Word  in  its  literal 
sense,  it  follows,  that  when  the  Lord  informs  us  that  his 
second  coming  will  be  in  the  ( louds,  we  are  to  understand, 
that  it  will  be  effected  by  an  opening  of  the  true  meaning 
of  the  Holy  Word  :  on  which  account,  in  the  passage 
which  we  have  noticed  from  the  Psalms,  the  clouds  are 
called  the  Lord's  chariot  ;  a  chariot  signifying  doctrine 
or  instruction,  and  it  being  by  means  of  the  letter  of  his 
Word,  and  never  without  it,  that  the  Lord  communicates 
instruction  to  man.  And  when  we  are  apprised,  that  the 
Lord  always  takes  the  title  of  Son  of  man  in  reference  to 
his  character  as  Divine  Truth,  and  as  Divine  Truth  adapt- 
ed to  enlighten  human  minds,  we  see  with  what  peculiar 
propriety  it  is  that  he  announces  his  coming,  in  this  cha- 
racter, in  the  clouds,  and  with  potcer  and  great  glory  ;  these 
phrases  denoting,  that  within,  and  out  of,  the  letter  of  the 
Holy  Word,  the  efficacy  and  light  of  pure  Divine  Truth 
will  be  made  apparent.* 

•  See  the  signification  of  clouds,  when  mentioned  in  Scripture,  further  illus- 
trated in  the  Appendix,  No.  IV. 


THE    »CRIPTt;RES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  349 

3.  The  liisit  example  wliiili  we  are  to  offer  of  the  appli- 
cability of  the  Science  of  Analogies  to  the  interi)retation  of 
the  prophetical  part  of  the  Word  of  God,  is  to  be  taken 
from  the  writings  of  the  Apocalyptic  Divine  ;  and  we  have 
selected  his  vision  of  spiritual  Babylon  ;  the  relation  of 
which,  after  mentioning  tliat  an  ati^cl  came  to  shew  him 
the  vision,  lie  commences  thus  :  "  So  he  carried  me  away 
iri"  the  spirit  into  the  wilderness.  And  I  saw  a  woman  sit 
upon  a  scarlet  coloured  beast,  full  of  names  of  blasphemy, 
having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns-  And  the  woman  was 
arrayed  in  purple  and  scarlet  colour,  and  decked  with  gold 
and  precious  stones  and  pearls  ;  having  a  golden  cup  in 
her  hand  full  of  abominations  and  iilthiness  of  her  for- 
nication :  and  u})on  her  forehead  was  a  name  written, 
Mystery,  Babylon  the  great,  the  mother  of  harlots  and 
abominations  of  the  earth.  And  I  saw  the  woman  drunken 
with  the  blood  of  the  saints,  and  with  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  of  Jesus."*  The  description  is  continued  through 
the  whole  of  this  and  of  the  following  chapter. 

As  soon  as  men  began  freely  to  examine  the  Scriptures, 
at  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  the  palpable  manner  in 
which  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  is  portrayed  under  the 
emblem  of  this  woman,  struck  every  mind  ;  and  from  that 
time  to  this  it  has  been  generally  admitted  by  Protestants, 
that  the  Harlot  of  Babylon  is  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
The  application  is  undoubtedly  just  :  yet  the  deep  reason 
of  the  various  symbols  employed,  has  not,  perhaps,  been 
generally  seen.  For  instance  :  AVhy  is  she  called,  not 
Rome,  but  Babylon  ?  Should  it  be  answered,  Because  Ba- 
bylon was  the  greatest  enemy  and  destroyer  of  the  church 
of  God  under  the  Mosaic  dispensation  :  the  question  will 
recur.  Why,  under  a  dispensation  of  an  entirely  represen- 
tative character,  was  the  king  of  Babylon  made  the  instru- 
ment of  destroying  the  metropolis  of  Judaea  and  the  tera- 

*  Hcv.  xvii.  3  to  fj. 

32 


250  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

pie  of  God  ?  Doubtless  it  must  have  been,  because  a  re- 
presentative character  attaches  also  to  Babylon,  whenever 
it  is  named  in  the  Holy  Word  :  and  if  modern  Rome  is 
spiritually  called  Babylon,  it  must  be,  because  the  repre- 
sentative character  of  the  Scripture  Babylon  has  become 
the  real  one  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

(1.)  When  the  situation  of  the  places  mentioned  in  the 
Holy  Word,  does  not  alone,  as  iu  the  case  of  the  land  of 
Gog,  indicate  what  principle  they  symbolize,  it  is  necessa- 
ry to  note  the  chief  circumstances  predicated  respecting 
them  ;  which  will  generally  point  to  the  truth. 

Among  the  various  motives  to  action  bv  which  mankind 
are  governed,  there  is  none  which  exercises  a  wider  in- 
fluence than  the  love  of  power.  This  is  little  attended  to 
among  ordinary  individuals,  because  cases  do  not  often  oc- 
cur for  its  exercise  in  a  very  extended  form  ;  and  the  in- 
numerable instances  in  which  it  displays  itself  in  little  mat- 
ters, escape  attention  fiom  the  very  circumstance  of  their 
frequency.  Yet  almost  every  family  will  furnish  us  with 
instances  of  persons  who  are  desirous  to  domineer  over 
those  around  them  :  and  that  the  principle  is  deeply  rooted 
in  human  nature,  in  its  present  state,  is  evinced  by  its  spon- 
taneous developement  in  the  minds  of  the  young.  One 
cannot  become  domesticated  in  a  seminary  for  youth,  with- 
out seeing  it  strongly  displayed  :  even  the  greatest  care  on 
tiie  part  of  the  master  can  seldom  prevent  the  exercise  of 
cruel  tyranny  on  the  part  of  the  stronger  children  over  the 
weaker.  But  when  we  turn  our  view  from  private  scenes 
to  public,  the  monster  stalks  before  us  in  the  most  gigantic 
form.  How  many  conquerors,  miscalled  heroes,  figure  in 
the  pages  of  history,  who  have  spent  their  lives  in  the  en- 
deavour to  aggrandize  their  power  by  the  subjugation  of 
the  surrounding  nations  !  and  how  many  sovereigns,  whom 
the  vicinity  of  more  powerful  states  has  prevented  from 
signalizing  themselves  by  foreign  conquests,  have  gratified 
their  lust  of  dominion  by  striving  to  render  their  authority 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  261 

in  their  own  kingdoms  more  absolute,  setting  their  own 
will  above  the  laws,  and  disposing  at  pleasure  of  the  pro- 
perty and  lives  of  their  subjects  !  In  short,  the  lust  of 
dominion  in  private  and  in  public,  with  the  cruelty  and 
oppression  with  which  it  is  associated,  is  the  source  of  the 
greatest  evils  which  afflict  mankind  :  even  the  lust  of  gold, 
— the  aun  sacra  fames, — so  celebrated  for  the  mischiefs  of 
which  it  is  the  origin,  is,  in  compariton,  a  gentle  demon. 
The  lust  of  dominion,  soften  it  as  we  may  by  the  milder 
names  of  ambition  and  the  love  of  power,  is  the  most  dire- 
ful evil  which  can  reign  in  the  human  heart  :  and  it  can- 
not be  doubted,  that,  when  encouraged  there,  and  made 
the  ruling  motive  of  the  life,  it  must  finally  sink  its  victim 

to  the  lowest  ffulf  which  vawns  in  the  kingdom  of  dark- 
en .^  o 

ness  to  swallow  up  the  wicked  of  mankind. 

But  if  the  lust  of  dominion  in  general  is  of  so  direful  a 
character,  what  must  we  think  of  it  when  it  seeks  to  ac- 
complish its  ends  by  hypocritical  pretences  ?  If  to  en- 
deavour to  subjugate  others  to  its  own  caprice  by  the  arms 
of  the  flesh,  is  a  crime  of  so  deep  a  die  ;  what  does  it  be- 
come when  it  employs,  in  (he  same  design,  the  artillery  of 
heaven  ?  If  to  desire  to  rule  over  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world,  is  so  corrupt  a  lust  ;  what  words  can  express  its 
atrocity,  when  it  seats  itself  on  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple, 
and  arrogates  such  a  sovereignty  as  belongs  to  God  alone  .'' 
This,  it  must  be  admitted,  is  the  worst  form  which  the 
lust  of  dominion  can  ever  assume.  And  this  most  dread- 
ful form  of  this  most  pernicious  lust,  is  what  is  specifically 
represented  by  Babylon  in  the  Holy  Word  :  as  will  appear 
by  noticing  what  is  generally  predicated  of  it  in  the  pass- 
ages where  it  is  mentioned. 

The  place  which  the  Greeks  called  Babylon  was  by  the 
Hebrews  called  Babel.  The  first  occasion  on  which  it  is 
mentioned  in  Scripture,  is,  when  its  first  building  is  relat- 
ed. It  is  said  to  have  been  built  by  Nimrod  ;  and  its  re- 
presentation   may  in    some  degree    be  gathered  from  the 


262  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

character  given  of  its  founder,  of  whom  it  is  said,  that 
*'  he  began  to  be  a  mighty  one  in  the  earth,"  and  that  "  he 
was  a  mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord  ;"*  by  which  is  gene- 
rally understood,  that  he  was  a  hunter  whose  game  was 
men, — a  conqueror  whose  pursuit  was  power.  Next  we 
have  an  account  of  the  erection  of  the  tower  of  Babel  :  and 
the  purpose  of  the  builders  is  so  stated,  as  to  leave  no  doubt 
of  the  symbolic  meaning  of  the  place  they  built  :  for  they 
said,  "  Go  to,  let  us  build  us  a  city,  and  a  tower  whose 
top  may  reach  unto  heaven,  and  let  us  make  us  a  name."f 
Whatever  might  be  the  nature  of  the  historical  fact  here 
refened  to,  it  is  plain  that  the  terms  in  which  it  is  related 
must  be  intended  to  convey  a  spiritual  meaning  :  for  it  is 
impossible  to  suppose  that  any  persons  could  think  it  prac- 
ticable literally  to  build  up  to  heaven  :  under  this  mode  of 
expression,  then,  is  intimated  the  desire  of  some  who  lived 
at  that  time,  to  found  a  dominion  that  should  arrogate  au- 
thority over  tlie  souls  of  men  as  well  as  tlieir  bodies. 

But  there  is  no  passage  which  exhibits  more  plainly  than 
is  done  in  a  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  the  meaning  of  Babylon, 
as  denoting  the  lust  of  ruling  over  both  the  bodies  and 
souls  of  men,  by  perverting  the  doctrines  of  the  church, 
and  inventing  fictions  and  imposing  them  as  such  doctrines, 
so  as  to  establish,  by  their  means,  an  unlimited  dominion. 
The  prophet  exclaims,  "  How  art  thou  fallen  from  heaven. 
0  Lucifer,  son  of  the  morning!  how  art  thou  cut  down  to 
the  ground  which  didst  weaken  the  nations  ?  For  thou 
saidst  within  thy  heart,  I  will  ascend  into  heaven^  I  will  ex- 
alt my  throne  above  the  stars  of  God,  I  will  also  sit  upon  the 
mount  of  the  congregation  in  the  sides  of  the  north,  I  will 
ascend  above  the  heights  of  the  clouds,  I  will  he  like  the  Most 
High^X  It  is  from  this  passage  that  the  prince  of  the  de- 
vils has  acquired  the  name  of  Lucifer  :  yet  whoever  will 
attentively  read  the  whole  chapter,  must  see  clearly,  that 

*  Gen.  x.  e,  9.         1  Ch.  x\.  4.         t  Isa.  xiv.  12,  13,  14. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    kc.  253 

this  name  is  not  given  to  any  individual  evil  spirit,  but 
that  the  pride  of  dominion,  represented  by  the  city  of  Ba- 
bvlon,  is  what  is  thus  named  and  described.  For  when 
the  subject  is  opened,  it  is  said  to  the  true  church,  "  Thou 
shalt  take  up  this  proverb  against  the  king  of  Babylon:  "* 
and  towards  the  conclusion  it  is  said,  "  I  Avill  rise  up 
against  them  saith  the  Lord,  and  cut  off  from  Babylon  the 
name  and  remnant,  son  and  nephew,  saith  the  Lord,"f  &c. 
Thus  it  is  plain,  that  Lucifer  is  a  personification  of  the 
kind  of  lust  of  domination  represented  by  Babylon  :  and 
that  this  is  the  lust  of  obtaining  dominion  by  um^g  spirit- 
ual things  as  instruments  for  that  purpose,  and  of  arrogat- 
ing authority  over  the  souls  of  men  as  well  as  their  bodies, 
is  evident  from  Lucifer's  being  described  as  saying,  '*  I 
will  ascend  into  heaven,  I  will  exalt  my  throne  above  the 
stars  of  God,  I  wall  be  like  t!ie  Most  High."| 

We  will  pass  on  to  Daniel,  who,  Avriting  his  prophecies 
at  the  place  itself,  whither  he  had  been  carried  cajjtive, 
treats  largely  of  Babylon,  and  consequently  of  that  species 
of  the  lust  of  dominion  of  whicli  Babylon  was  a  type. 
Nebuchadnezzar  relates  a  dream,  in  which  he  says,  "•'  I 
saw,  and  behold  a  tree  in  the  midst  of  the  eartli,  and  the 
height  thereof  teas  great.     The  tree  grew  and   was   strong, 


*   Ver.  4.  i    Vcr.  2-2. 

t  It  should  also  be  observed,  that  the  words  in  our  traiislrttion,  '•  the  moiiDt 
of  the  congregation,"  are  better  given  by  Bishop  Lowth,  '•  the  mount  of  the 
divine  presence  :"  for  the  original  term  translated  ••  congregjition,''  tliougii  it  is 
expressive  of  mrrting  together,  does  not,  in  this  use,  inerelv  mean  the  assem- 
bling together  of  the  people,  but  the  meeting  together  of  God  and  man.  The 
tabernacle,  and  afterwards  the  temple,  were  called  the  tabernacle  and  temple, 
not,  as  in  our  version,  of  the  congregation,  hut  of  meeting  together,  because  in 
them  the  divine  presence  v.as  manifested,  and  God  was  considered  to  meet 
with  man  :  and  the  sftme  title  was  thence  transferred  to  mount  Zion,  on  which 
the  temple  stood.  When  therefore  Lucifer  declares  bis  purpose  of  establishing 
himself  oa  the  mount  of  meeting  together,  the  meaning  is,  that  he,  as  represent- 
ing the  principle  wliich  we  have  described,  would  interpose  himself  between 
God  and  man,  to  become  the  sclf-constituled  urgaii  of  dispensing  ilic  divino 
behests  to  mankind. 


254  PLEXARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

and  tlie  Jieight  thereof  reached  unto  heaven,  and  the  sight  there- 
of to  the  end  of  all  the  earth."*  In  the  interpretation  of 
this  dream,  Duniel  says  to  Nebuchadnezzar,  "  The  tree 
which  thou  sawest,  whose  height  reached  unto  heaven,  and 
the  sight  thereof  to  all  the  earth, — it  is  thou,  0  king,  that 
art  grown  and  become  strong  :  for  thy  greatness  is  grown 
and  reacheth  unto  heaven,  and  thy  dominion  unto  the  ends 
of  the  earth."!  Nebuchadnezzar,  as  being  the  king  of  Baby- 
lon, bears  the  same  typical  representation  as  Babylon  itself  : 
and  here  we  find  the  circumstance  of  reaching  to  heaven,  so 
often  mentioned  when  Babylon  is  treated  of,  again  intro- 
duced ;  because  it  is  a  phrase  expressive  of  the  claiming  of 
dominion  over  the  souls  of  men  ;  whilst  the  reaching  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth  as  plainly  implies  the  pretension  to  univer- 
sal dominion  over  their  bodies.  The  blind  presumption 
which  accompanies  such  pretensions,  is  represented  by  Bel- 
shazzar's  impious  feast,  which  M'as  interrupted  by  the  hand 
writing  on  the  wall ;  on  which  occasion  it  is  related,  that 
"  they  brought  the  golden  vessels  that  were  taken  out  of 
the  temple  of  the  house  of  God  which  was  at  Jerusalem  ; 
and  the  king  and  his  princes,  his  wives  and  his  concubines, 
drank  in  them  ;  they  drank  wine,  and  praised  the  gods  of 
gold  and  of  silver,  of  brass,  of  iron,  of  wood,  and  of 
stone  :"|  by  which  was  represented  the  profanation  of 
which  those  are  guilty  who  ai'e  principled  in  that  love  of 
domination  of  which  Babylon  and  her  kings  were  types, 
in  consequence  of  their  assuming  the  appearance  of 
sanctity,  and  making  all  the  holy  doctrines  and  rites 
of  the  church  minister  to  the  gratification  of  their  in- 
sane lust.  The  same  assumj)tion  of  authority  in  sacred 
affairs  was  represented  by  the  command  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, that  all  people,  nations,  and  languages,  should 
fall  down  and  worship  the  golden  image  that  he  had 
set   uj),   under   pain    of  being   cast    into   a  burning   fiery 

*  Dan.  iv.  10,  11.  t    Ver.  20,  22.  |  Chap.  v.  3,  1. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    ScC.  255 

furnace  :*  and  the  pretensions  to  a  power  absolutely 
divine  are  appropriately  expressed  by  the  decree  of  Darius. 
Avhen  he  had  obtained  possession  of  Babylon,  "that  who- 
soever, for  the  space  of  thirty  days,  should  ask  a  petition 
of  God  or  man,  save  of  the  king  only,  should  be  cast  into 
the  den  of  lions. "f 

Many  other  testimonies  to  the  character  of  Babylon 
might  be  adduced  ;  but  these  will  surely  be  sufficient  to 
evince,  that  tlie  lust  of  dominion,  when  it  seeks  to  obtain 
its  end  by  prostituting  to  its  purpose  the  doctrines  and  all 
the  sanctities  of  religion,  is  what  is  signified  by  Babylon, 
or  to  represent  which,  Babylon,  as  a  suitable  type,  is  em- 
ployed in  the  Divine  Word.  To  ascertain,  then,  whether 
Babylon,  in  the  Apocalypse,  bears  any  allusion  to  the  Ro- 
mish Church,  it  is  only  necessary  to  ask.  Has  the  Romish 
Church  aimed  at  such  dominion,  and  by  such  means?  The 
answer  is  to  be  read  in  every  page  of  the  history  of  Eu- 
rope, during  the  ages  that  preceded  the  Reformation  of 
Luther. I 

*  Chap.  iii.  4,  5,  6.  t  Ch.  vi.  7. 

t  History  will  discover  to  us  the  practice  of  the  Romish  Church  ;  the  princi- 
ples from  which  the  practice  proceeded  are  well  brought  together  in  a  recent 
popular  work:  take  the  following  as  a  specimen  :  "  According  to  the  Canons, 
the  Pope  was  as  far  above  all  kings,  as  the  sun  is  greater  than  the  moon.  He 
was  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords,  though  he  subscribed  Iiimself  the  Ser- 
vant of  servants.  Kis  power  it  was  which  was  intended,  when  it  was  said  to  the 
Prophet  Jeremiah,  '  Behold,  I  have  tliis  day  set  thee  over  nations  and  king- 
doms, to  root  out,  and  to  pull  down,  and  to  destroy,  and  to  throw  down,  to 
build,  and  to  plant.'  It  was  an  incomprehensible  and  infinite  power,  because 
'  great  is  the  Lord,  and  great  is  his  power,  and  of  his  greatness  there  is  no  end.' 
The  immediate  and  sole  rule  of  the  whole  world  belonged  to  him,  by  natural, 
moral,  and  divine  right ;  all  authority  depending  upon  him.  As  supreme  King, 
he  might  impose  taxes  upon  all  Christians  ;  and  the  Popes  declared  it  was  to  be 
held  as  a  point  necessary  to  salvation,  that  every  human  creature  is  subject  to 
the  Roman  Pontiff.  That  he  might  lawfully  depose  kings,  was  averred  to  be 
so  certain  a  doctrine,  that  it  could  only  be  denied  by  madmen,  or  through  the 
instigation  of  the  Devil;  it  was  more  pernicious  and  intolerable  to  deny  it,  than 
to  err  concerning  the  Sacraments. — All  nations  and  kingdoms  were  under  the 
Pope's  jurisdiction,  for  to  him  God  had  delivered  over  the  power  and  dominion 
in  heaven  and  earth. — The  Spouse  of  the  Church  [as  he  was  callod]  wu.^  Viie- 


256  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

Tims  we  see  that  tlie  true  reason  why  Babylon,  in  the 
Revelation,  is  mentioned  as  a  symbol  of  the  corrupt  Ro- 
mish Church,  is,  because  the  governing  powers  of  that 
church  have  been  inflamed  with  the  lust  of  universal  do- 
minion over  both  the  souls  and  bodies  of  men,    and  have 

God  :  men  were  commanded  to  bow  at  his  name,  as  at  the  name  of  Christ ;  the 
proudest  sovereigns  waited  upon  him  like  menials,  led  his  horse  by  the  bridle, 
and  held  his  stirrup  while  he  alighted  :  and  there  were  ambassadors,  who  pros- 
trated themselves  before  him,  saying,  O  thou,  that  takest  away  the  sins  of  the 
world,  have  mercy  upon  us  ! 

"  Tlie  advocates  of  the  Papal  power  proclaimed, — that  all  pontifical  decrees 
ought  forever  to  be  observed  by  all  men,  like  the  Word  of  God,  to  be  received 
as  if  they  came  from  the  mouth  of  St.  Peter  himself,  and  held  like  canonical 
Scripture. — Even  this  monstrous  proposition  has  been  advanced,  that  although 
the  Catholic  Faith  teaches  all  virtue  to  be  good,  and  all  vice  evil ;  nevertheless, 
if  the  Pope,  through  error,  should  enjoin  vices  to  be  committed,  and  prohibit 
virtues,  the  Church  would  be  bound  to  believe  that  vices  were  good  and  vir- 
tues evil,  and  would  sin  in  conscience  were  it  to  believe  otherwise.  He  could 
change  the  nature  of  things,  and  make  injustice  justice.  Nor  was  it  possible 
that  he  should  be  amenable  to  any  secular  power,  for  he  had  been  called  God 
by  Constantine,  and  God  was  not  to  be  judged  by  man  :  under  God,  the  salva- 
tion of  the  faithful  depended  on  him  ;  and  the  commentators  even  gave  him  the 
blasphemous  appellation  of  our  Lord  God  the  Pope  !  It  was  disputed  in  the 
schools, — whether  he  did  not,  as  God,  participate  both  natures  with  Christ ; 
and  whether  he  was  not  more  merciful  than  Christ,  inasmuch  as  he  delivered 
souls  from  the  pains  of  purgatory,  whereas  we  did  not  read  that  this  had 
ever  been  done  by  our  Saviour.  Lastly,  it  was  affirmed  that  he  might 
do  things  unlawfiil,  and  thus  could  do  more  than  God !" 

Nor  were  the  inferior  clergy  left  without  a  handsome  participation  in  this 
plenitude  of  power.  It  having  been  determined  that  the  sacramental  bread 
was  changed,  when  consecrated,  into  the  real  body  of  the  Lord;  it  was  held 
that  "  the  Priest,  when  he  performed  this  stupendous  function  of  his  ministry, 
had  before  his  eyes,  and  held  in  his  hands,  the  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth  ; 
and  the  inference  which  they  deduced  fi-om  so  blasphemous  an  assumption  was, 
tiiat  the  Clergy  were  not  to  be  subject  to  any  secular  authority,  seeing  they 
could  create  God  their  creator !  Let  it  not  be  supposed,"  says  our  author, 
"  that  the  statement  is  in  the  slightest  part  exaggerated ;  it  is  delivered  faithful- 
ly in  their  own  words."     Southeifs  "  Book  of  the  Church,"  Vol.  I.  ch.  10. 

As  a  further  sample  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Romish  hierarchy,  in  the 
days  of  their  prosperity,  profaned  the  Scriptures  by  applying  them  to  support 
their  extravagant  pretensions,  take  the  following  extract  of  a  letter  from  Saint 
Thomas  Becket  to  the  Pope :  "  It  is  by  forbearance  on  our  side  that  the  pow- 
ers of  the  world  grow  insolent,  and  kings  become  tyrants,  so  as  to  believe,  that 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &LC.  257 

profaned  the  most  holy  things  by  making  tliem  subservient 
lo  that  object  ;  and  becau^^c  of  this  principle,  whether  ex- 
isting in  the  Romish  Church  or  in  any  other,  Babylon,  in 
the  Scriptures,  is  constantly  the  symbol. 

(2.)  We  have  examined  at  some  length  the  signification 
of  Babylon,  this  affording  a  key  to  the  whole  prediction. 
The  circumstances  predicated  of  this  personification  of 
Babylon,  in  the  verses  quoted  above,  will  be  found,  when 
explained,  to  be  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  signification 
of  the  woman  herself ;  and  as  the  analogical  reasons  of  their 
signification  are  for  the  most  part  pretty  obvious,  they 
need  not  detain  us  lono;. 

The  appearance  of  the  harlot  was  extremely  splendid  : 
she  was  arrayed  in  purple  and  scailet,  and  decked  with 
precious  stones  and  pearls,  and  held  in  her  hand  a  golden 
cup.  It  is  generally  supposed,  that  these  things  are  men- 
tioned, to  describe  the  magnificence  and  splendour  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  worship,  and  the  super-royal  grandeur  of 
the  Papal  Court  ;  and,  in  their  literal  sense,  the  words 
will  very  well  bear  this  application.  But  this  is  not  the 
spiritual  meaning  of  the  terms  ;  which  properly  imply  that 
that  church  assumes,  externally,  an  appearance  as  if  she 
were  the  true  bride  of  the  Divine  Bridegroom,  decorated 
with  all  the  spiritual  elegancies  which  ought  to  distinguish 
the  true  cluirch,  whilst,  internally  regarded,  the  opposite 
of  this  is  lier  state.  Garments  are  always  mentioned  in 
reference  to  the  truths  possessed  by  the  wearer  ;  as  may 
appear  from  the  passage  of  the  Psalms  noticed  above,  in 
which  light,  the  proper  emblem  of  the  purest  truth,  is  as- 
cribed to  the  Lord  as  his  garment.  The  colours  and  other 
ornaments  of  the  garments,  express  the  quality  of  the  truth, 

no  rights,  no  privileges,  arc  to  be  left  to  the  C'liurch,  unless  at  tlieir  pleasure. 
But  blessed  is  he  who  taketh  and  dasheth  their  little  ones  against  the  stones  ! 
For  if  Judah  does  not,  according  to  the  command  of  the  law,  root  out  the 
Canaanife.  he  will  grow  up  against  him.  to  bo  pprpetiially  his  enemy  and  his 
scourge."      Ihid.  Viil.  I   cli.  R. 

3J 


258  PLENARY   INSPIRATION    OF 

of  which  the  wearer  enjoys,  or  boasts,  the  possession. 
Red  colours  bear  an  acknowledged  analogy  to  fire  and 
warmth,  which  as  plainly  answer,  by  a  spiritual  analogy 
to  the  principle  of  lovx  :  hence  the  purple  in  which  this 
woman  was  arrayed,  being  an  extremely  deep  and  intense 
red,*  represented  the  appearance  which  the  Popish  reli- 
gion assumes,  of  possessing,  from  the  truths  of  the  Word, 
the  highest  order  of  good,  being  that  which  in  the  Scrip- 
tures is  denominated  the  love  of  the  Lord  ;  and  the  scarlet, 
which  is  a  bright  red  mixed  witli  flame-colour  and  reflect- 
ing a  great  deal  of  light,  represented  the  appearance  of 
possessing,  from  the  same  source,  the  highest  order  of  truth, 
being  that  which  proceeds  from,  and  leads  to,  love  to  the 
Lord.  By  gold  is  here  specifically  meant  that  species  of 
good  which  the  Scriptures  call  love  towards  the  neighbour: 
and  by  precious  stones  and  pearls,  on  account  of  the  spark- 
ling light  which  they  emit,  are  signified  specific  points  of 
knowledge  on  heavenly  subjects.  By  the  golden  cup  in  the 
woman's  hand,  this  being  a  vessel  for  containing  liquids,  is 
signified  the  doctrine  of  that  religion,  which  is  "  the  wine 
of  her  fornication,"  with  which  "  the  inhabitants  of  the 
earth  have  been  made  drunk  :"f  it  is  said  to  be  a  golden 
cup,  to  intimate  that  her  doctrine  is  made  outwardly  to  ap- 
pear as  if  it  were  founded  in  goodness  :  but  by  its  being 
said  to  be  "  full  of  abominations  and  filthiness,"  is  signi- 
fied, that  such  appearance  is  merely  assumed  to  ensnare 
the  well-disposed,  whilst  in  reality  every  good  and  every 
truth  in  that  religion  are  adulterated  and  profaned. | 

But  John  saw  the  true  character  of  the  Romish  Religion 
revealed  in  the  name  written  on  the  woman's  forehead  : 
"  Mystery,  Babylon  the  great,  the  mother  of  harlots  and 
abominations  of  the  earth."     The  name  is  called  "  Myste- 

*  This  was  the  colour  called  purple  in  the  Scriptures.         f  Verse  2. 
t  For  a  sample  of  the  aboiuinations  and  filthiness  with  which  the  cup  of  Po- 
pish doctrine  is  full,  see  the  Note  above,  p.  255. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  259 

ry,"  because  it  discloses  that  which  the  Babylonians  wish 
to  conceal.     When  we  are  apprised    that    by  Ba])ylon    is 
signified  the  lust  of  ruling  over  all  mankind,  and  even  over 
heaven  itself,  we  need  not  wonder  that  it  is  called  "  Baby- 
lon the  great ;"  for  none  think  themselves  so  great  as  those 
who  are  under  the  influence  of  this  self-magnifying  appe- 
tite.    And  this  will  explain,  as  we  shall  see  presently,  why 
Babylon  personified  is  called   "  the  Mother  of  harlots  and 
abominations  of  the  earth."     It  is  generally  admitted  that 
the  spiritual  signification  of  adultery,  is  idolatry  :  for  it  is 
mentioned  in  Scripture  in  a  variety  of  places  where  the 
natural  crime  cannot  be  meant.     Thus  Jehovah  says  by  the 
prophet,  "  And  I  saw,  when  for   all   the   causes  whereby 
backsliding  Israel  commited  adultery,  I  had  put  her  away, 
and  given  her  a  bill  of  divorce,  yet  her   treacherous  sister 
Judah  feared  not,  but  went  and  played   the  harlot  also  :" 
and  in  the  verse  following  it  is  said,  that  she  "  committed 
adultery  with  stones  and  with  stocks."*    Here,  Israel  and 
Judah  are  regarded  as  the  wives  of  tiie  Lord  ;  consequent- 
ly, the  adultery  with  which  tiiey  are  reproached,  is  their 
infidelity  to  him,  which,   by  the   clearest  analogy,    is  the 
adultery  of  the  Church  :  stones  and  stocks  are  mentioned, 
for  idols  made  of  stone  and  idols  made  of  wood  ;    and  to 
commit  adultery  with  these,  is  to  turn  from  the  worship  of 
the  Lord  to  the  worship  of  idols.     And  has  not  Rome  been 
guilty  of  this  sin  .''     How  many  idols  has  she  literally  set 
up,  to  share  with  the  Lord   the  worship  of  her  disciples, 
or  to  draw  them  entirely  away  from  him,  who  is  the  true 
husband  of  the  Church  ! 

It  is  necessary,  however,  to  observe,  that  it  is  possible 
to  be  spiritually  a  harlot,  and  yet  not  to  offer  outward 
Avorship  to  any  but  the  true  God  :  for  this  is  also  done  by 
those  who  pervert  the  genuine  truths  of  the  Divine  Word, 
applying  them  in   such    a  manner  as   to  favour   any  senti- 

*  Jer.  iii.  d,  9. 


2d0  PLENARY    INSPIRATION^    OF 

ment  which  is  not  true  and  good  ;  especially  when  they 
are  so  misapplied  as  to  seem  to  confirm  any  doctrine  that 
has  nothing  for  its  end  but  the  gratification  of  selfish  and 
corrupt  inclinations.  The  proper  partner  of  truth  is  good- 
ness, and  the  proper  partner  of  goodness  is  truth  ;  but 
when  an  unnatural  union  is  effected  between  truth  and 
evil,  or  good  and  a  false  persuasion,  it  is  adulterated  and 
defiled.  And  this  is  perpetually  done  by  spiritual  Baby- 
lon. For  as  Babylon  represents  the  love  of  domineering 
over  others  by  means  of  the  spiritualities  of  the  cliurch  ; 
and  as  the  genuine  doctrines  and  truths  of  the  church  are 
diametrically  opposite  to  such  a  lust  ;  they  cannot  be  ap- 
plied to  promote  its  purposes,  till  they  are  quite  wrested 
from  their  genuine  import,  and  utterly  perverted  :  and  so 
to  pervert  them  is  to  adulterate  and  profane  them,  thus,  to 
apply  tliem  to  the  purposes  of  spiritual  adultery.  And  as 
the  lust  of  dominion,  signified  by  Babylon,  is  perpetually 
doing  this  ;  therefore  is  she  called,  with  the  strictest  pro- 
priety, "  the  Mother  of  harlots  and  abominations  of  the 
earth."* 

But  the  Babylonian  harlot  is  described  as  guilty  of  ano- 
ther vice  :  she  is  said  to  be  drunken,  and  tliat  too  with  a 
more  maddening  beverage  than  wine  ;  for  she  was  ■•'  drunk- 
en with  the  blood  of  the  saints,  and  with  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  of  Jesus."  To  be  drunken,  is  a  phrase  sometimes 
used  in  Scriptures,  as  in  Ezekiel's  address  to  the  fowls  and 
beasts,  merely  to  express  abundance  ;  but  when,  as  is  more 
common,  intoxication  is  implied,  its  meaning  will  appear 
from  observing  the  spiritual  analogy  of  that  state.  As 
man,  by  natural  ebriety,  sinks  from  a  rational  being  to  a 

*  Some  examples  of  the  adulteration,  by  Babylon,  of  the  truths  of  Scripture, 
by  applying  them  to  support  her  blasphemous  pretensions,  occur  in  the  Note 
above,  p.  256.  It  is  also  well  known  what  a  superstructure  of  imposture  she 
has  erected  upon  the  text  relating  to  the  giving  of  the  keys  to  Peter,  combined 
with  that  in  which  Jesus  Clirist  says,  '•  All  pov.cr  is  given  to  me  in  heaven 
and  in  earth." 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &^C.  261 

merely  animal  one,  and  yet  generally  thinks  himself,  at 
such  times,  more  rational  than  those  Avhose  intellects  arc 
undisturbed  ;  so  the  man  who  is  spiritually  intoxicated, 
though  he  may  retain  the  faculty  of  natural  rationality,  is 
deprived  of  intelligence  in  spiritual  subjects,  and  is,  in  re- 
gard to  these,  in  a  manner  insane  ;  yet  he,  also,  common- 
ly exults  in  his  madne:?s,  and  thinks  himself  wiser  than 
others.  Ebriety,  then,  in  Sacred  Writ,  denotes  insanity 
with  respect  to  spiritual  sulijects,  and  an  exidting  profes- 
sion of  false  sentiments  for  true  ones.  But  why  is  the 
woman's  intoxication  ascribed  to  her  drinking  the  blood 
of  the  saints  and  martyrs  of  Jesus?  This  is  commonly 
supposed  to  refer  to  the  barbarous  persecutions  and  cruel 
murders  which  have  stained  the  hands  of  the  Romish 
hierarchy  :  but  though  the  literal  sense  is  here  also  very 
applicable,  something  beyond  this  is  implied  by  the  ex- 
pressions. It  is  to  be  remembered,  that  the  word  "  mar- 
tyr" is  Greek,  and  means  a  icitness  ;  as  t!ie  word  "  saint" 
is  from  the  Latin,  and  means  a  holy  one.  The  holy  ones  of 
Scripture,  are  those  whose  lives  are  purified  and  made 
holy,  by  their  rece})tion,  in  affection,  of  the  genuine  truths 
of  the  Word;  and,  abstractedly,  they  are  tliose  truths  th.cm- 
selves  :  and  the  witnesses  of  Jesus,  are  tho^e  who,  by  the 
same  means,  are  enabled  to  bear  tlie  testimony  which  iheir 
name  implies  ;  and,  abstractedly,  they  are  those  trntlis  of 
the  Word  wliich  point  to  the  Lord  and  xmfold  his  true 
character.  To  shed  the  blood,  then,  of  the  saints  or  holy 
ones,  is  to  destroy,  by  false  interpretations,  those  truths  of 
the  Divine  Word  which  lead  immediately  to  holiness  of  life; 
and  to  shed  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  or  witnesses  of  Jesus, 
is  to  destroy,  by  the  same  meaiis,  those  truths  which  lead 
to  tlie  correct  and  saving  knowledge  of  the  Lord.  This 
has  been  done  in  abundance  by  the  perveise  ej^positions  of 
the  Romish  Church  ;  and  in  proportion  as  she  has  done  it, 
and  has  drunk  the  blood  thus  shed, — that  is,  has  inil/ibed, 
not  the  pure  truth  of  the  Woid,    but  the  moA  \n  illcl  vio- 


PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OP 

lations  of  it,  which  is  the  signification  of  blood  when  shed 
unlawfully, — her  spiritual  intoxication  has  increased  ;  till 
she  has  boasted  herself  infallible,  and  has  exulted  in  the 
persuasion  that  her  proud  pretensions  would  be  admitted 
for  ever  ;  till  she  has  said  in  her  heart,  "  I  sit  a  queen, 
and  am  no  widow,  and  shall  see  no  sorrow."* 

In  all  the  particulars,  then,  of  the  description  of  the 
harlot  of  Babylon,  we  find  an  exact  delineation  of  the  cor- 
ruptions which  take  place,  when  the  lust  of  dominion  in- 
trudes itself  into  the  church,  and  applies  all  the  sanctities 
of  religion  to  its  own  aggrandizement  :  and  because  this 
has  been  the  case,  to  a  most  deplorable  extent,  in  the 
Church  of  Rome,  her  portrait  is,  in  this  description,  so 
readily  to  be  discerned. 

These  specimens  are  what   it  was  deemed  necessary  to 
ofier,  to  evince  the  ajiplicability  of  the  Science  of  Analo- 
gies, as  a  Rule  of  interpretation,  to  that  part  of  the  Word 
of  God  which  is  delivered   in  the  style  of  prophecy.     As 
before  remarked,  the  brevity  which  it  has  been  necessary 
to  consult,  has  rendered  it  impossible  to  give  the  full  proof 
which  might  be  desired  of  the  meaning  of  every  symbol 
which  we  have  had  to  consider  ;  yet  enough  perhaps  has 
been  advanced,  to  shew  that  the  truth  of  every  interpreta- 
tion which  has  been  offered  is  at  least  highly  probable,  and 
to  render  it  morally  certain,   that    the  system  of  Analogy 
between  natural  things  and  spiritual,    affords  the  true  and 
only  key  for  the  decyphering  of  the  language  of  the  pro- 
phetic Scriptures.     The  principles  laid  clown  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  Lecture,  on  the  character  which  must  necessa- 
rily belong  to  the  Divine  Style  of  Writing,  must  be  borne 
in  mind.     If,  as  stated  above,  in  a  written  revelation  from 
God,  the  Divine  Truth   nmst    clothe   itself  with  ideas  and 
imaoes  taken  from  the  world  of  nature  before  it  could  be 


Cli;q) 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  263 

presented  to  man  ;  and  if  the  Divine  Style  of  Writing 
must  thus  follow  the  Law  of  that  Analogy  which  indisso- 
lubly  connects  natural  objects  and  ideas  with  such  as  are 
spiritual  and  divine  ; — it  will  follow,  that  the  spiritual  and 
divine  wisdom  which  such  a  revelation  must  contain  with- 
in it,  could  only  be  understood  by  a  right  application  to 
it  of  this  Law.  And  if  on  an  application  of  this  Law  to 
the  books  called  the  Holy  Scriptures,  it  should  be  found 
that  they  exhibit  a  coherent  series  of  spiritual  and  divine 
instruction  ;  it  will  follow  further,  that  the  Scriptures  are 
such  a  revelation  of  Divine  Truth  presented  to  man  in 
natural  language  ;  that  they  are  the  Divine  Speech,  or 
Divine  Word,  which  has  emanated  from  the  bosom  of 
Deity  into  this  lowest  sphere  of  creation.  In  regard  to  the 
prophetical  parts  of  the  sacred  code,  it  is  hoped,  that 
their  title  to  this  character  has  now,  in  some  measure, 
been  evinced  ;  and  if  so,  the  claims  of  the  Holy  Scriptures 
to  Plenary  Divine  Inspiration,  will,  so  far,  have  been 
established. 


LECTURE  V. 


PROOFS  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS  CONTINUED. 

I.  Applicability  of  the  Laio  ichich  governs  the  Relation  between 
natural  objects  and  spiritual  and  divine  essences, — or  of  the 
Science  of  Analogies, — as  a  Rule  for  the  interpretation  of  the 
Historical  Parts  of  the  Divine  Word.  1 .  Sentiments  of  Bibli- 
cal Critics,  and  admissions  of  Expositors,  on  the  typical  nature 
of  the  Scripture  History.  2.  JVecessity  of  making  the  system 
uniform.  II.  Just  Ideas  of  the  nature  and  uses  of  the  Israel- 
itish  Dispensation  necessary  to  the  right  apprehension  of  the 
Israelitish  History.  III.  Examples  of  the  light  which  results 
from  the  application  of  the  Rule  of  Analogy  between  natural 
things  and  spiritual  to  the  Scripture  Histories  :  Instances  se- 
lected ;  1.  The  miraculous  capture  of  Jericho  ;  (Josh,  vi.) 
2.  Jephthah  and  his  vow  ;  (Judges  xi.)  3.  The  combat  of 
David  and  Goliath  ;  (I  Sam.  xvii.)  4.  The  circumstances 
attending  the  Crucifixion  of  Jesus  Christ.  IV.  Examples  of 
the  light  which  residts  from  the  application  of  the  Rule  to  the 
Ceremonial  Precepts  of  the  Divine  Word  :  Instances  selected  ; 
1.  The  Sacrifices  in  general  :  2.  The  prohibition  of  various 
kinds  of  meats  :  (Lev.  xi.)  3.  The  Law  of  the  J^azarite  : 
(Numb,  vi.)  4.  Baptism  and  the  Lord''s  Supper  ;  xchich 
were  instituted  under  the  Christian  Dispensation  as  an  Epitome 
of  the  whole  Ceremonial  Laic. 


IriAViNG,    in    our    last    Lecture,     endeavoured    to    shew 
what  the  trulv  Divine  Stvle  of  Writing    must   necessarily 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &CC.  2G5 

be,  ami  to  evince  that  the  Law  of  that  Analogy  wliicli  con- 
nects natural  objects  and  ideas  with  such  as  are  spiritual 
and  divine,  must  afford  the  Rule  for  its  interpretation  ;  we 
inferred,  that  if  the  books  which  claim  to  be  the  Word  of 
God  can  be  decyphered  by  the  application  to  them  of  this 
Rule,  so  as  to  yield,  iri  every  part,  a  coherent  sense,  wor- 
thy of  a  Divine  Author  ;  this  will  prove  that  they  are  com- 
posed in  tlie  Divine  Style  of  Writinfr,  and  that  they  must 
have  been  given  by  a  Plenary  Divine  Inspiration.  The  theo- 
rem which  we  meant  to  propose  mav  perliaps  be  more  dis- 
tinctly stated  thus:  A  Divine  Composition  must  be  written  in  a 
peculiar  Divine  Style:  The  Divine  Style  must  follow  the  Law 
of  that  Analogy,  which,  as  was  before  proved,  connects  natu- 
ral objects  and  ideas  with  such  as  are  spiritual  and  divine  ; 
being  that  by  which  the  outward  universe  was  first  brought 
into  existence,  and  by  which  it  is  still  kept  in  connexion 
with  its  Divine  Source,  and  thus  is  preserved  :  Every 
writing  which  is  composed  with  undeviating  regularity 
according  to  the  Law  of  this  Analogy,  is  composed  in  the 
truly  Divine  Style  :  Consequently,  every  such  writing  is  a 
Divine  Composition.  This  then  must  be  true  of  the  books 
commonly  named  the  Word  of  God,  if,  on  applying  to 
their  interpretation  the  Law  of  Analogy,  they  are  found  to 
be  written  according  to  it. 

This  inference  will  not  be  weakened  by  the  fact,  that 
other  compositions  may  have  been  framed,  by  persons  well 
acquainted  with  the  Analogy  of  which  we  are  speaking,  in 
which  the  same  Law,  to  a  great  extent,  has  been  observed: 
for  the  knowledge  of  analogies  in  uninspired  writers  can 
never  be  so  complete,  as  to  govern  the  selection  of  every 
expression  ;  whereas,  in  the  divine  afflatus  of  real  inspiia- 
tion,  every  expression,  to  the  minutest  particle, — to  every 
jot  and  tittle,* — would  flow  in  agreement  with  this  Law  : 
and  tliis  is  the  case  in  the  books  of  the  Divine  "Word.     Un- 

-  AI.iii.  V.  18. 


266 


PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 


inspired  writers  might  frame  compositions,  whicli,  in  their 
leading  points,  should  contain  a  spiritual  sense  ;  but  not 
such  as  should  carry  a  spiritual  sense  in  one  unbroken 
series  tliroughout.  But  even  supposing  it  possible  for 
science  to  emulate  tlie  productions  of  inspiration  witlr  such 
exactness,  that  no  difi'erence  could  be  discerned  between 
them  ;  this  would  not  tend  to  invalidate  the  claims  of  the 
books  which  are  called  the  Word  of  God  ;  since,  whatever 
such  science  might  be  capable  of  effecting,  there  is  no  rea- 
son for  supposing  that  the  writers  of  those  books  possessed 
it.  Moses,  indeed,  who  was  educated  in  all  the  wisdom 
of  the  Egyptians,  might  have  some  knowledge  of  it  :  but 
it  could  be  shewn,  that  though  it  continued  to  be  studied 
among  some  of  the  eastern  nations,  it  was  not  known  to  the 
Jews,  who  were  always  a  gross  and  ignorant  people.  Even 
if  the  prophets  knew  any  thing  of  the  science,  it  is  certain 
that  their  writings  were  not  artificially  composed  by  it ; 
they  being  evidently  unpremeditated,  spontaneous  effusions, 
not  the  laboured  productions  of  study.  But  it  is  perfectly 
clear,  that  when  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  were 
written,  no  remains  of  the  science  were  extant  among  the 
Jews  ;  and  as  the  style  of  writing  composed  of  analogies 
appears  in  all  its  vigour  in  the  latest  of  those  books,  the 
Revelation  of  John,  it  evidently  is  there  the  purely  divine 
style  of  writing,  which  nothing  but  inspiration  could  have 
imparted  to  the  writer.  Our  inference,  then,  remains  un- 
impeachable ;  that  if,  on  an  application  to  the  books  which 
claim  to  be  the  Word  of  God,  of  the  Rule  of  interpretation 
afforded  by  the  Analogy  between  natural  things  and  spirit- 
ual, we  every  where  obtain  a  coherent  sense  worthy  of 
a  Divine  Author,  those  books  had  a  Divine  Author,  and 
are  written  by  a  Plenary  Divine  Inspiration. 

I.  In  our  last  Lecture,  we  endeavoured  to  give  some 
idea  of  the  mode  of  applying  the  rule  of  spiritual  Analogy 
to  the  decyi)hering  of  tlie  prophetical  parts  of  the  Scrip- 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &;C.  267 

tiires.  As  introductory  to  this,  we  first  confirmed,  by  tlie 
testimony  of  autliors  in  high  esteem,  the  general  fact  ;  that 
the  prophecies  of  Scripture  do  include  a  meaning  beyond 
that  which  appears  immediately  on  the  surface, — that  they 
contain  a  double  sense,  the  one  applying  to  things  natural 
and  temporal,  the  other  to  things  spiritual  and  eternal. 
We  have  seen,  indeed,  that  the  fict  is  so  evident, — that  it 
so  openly  forces  itself  upon  the  notice  of  a  serious  student 
of  the  prophetic  writers, — as  to  be  admitted  by  many  who 
are  by  no  means  disposed  to  estimate  too  highly  the  cha- 
racter of  the  Word  of  God.  We  have  even  found,  that 
learned  men  have  laid  down  a  Rule  for  the  interpretation 
of  the  prophetic  writings,  which  proceeds  upon  the  same 
principleas  that  which,  we  are  endeavouring  to  prove,  is  the 
true  Rule  for  the  interpretation  of  the  whole  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures.  The  Rule  wliich  they  have  adopted  is  that  of 
Analogy  or  Mutual  Relation  ;  only  their  analogies,  being 
between  certain  natural  things  and  certain  other  natural 
things,  thus  between  things  not  sufficiently  separate  in  their 
nature,  are  in  some  respects  arbitrary  and  uncertain;  where- 
as the  analogies  which  we  would  point  out,  being  between 
outward  forms  and  inward  essences, — between  things  es- 
sentially different,  and  yet  so  connected  that  the  lower  ab- 
solutely draw  their  origin  from  the  higher, — are  fixed  and 
certain  ;  they  are  founded  in  the  unalterable  relations  of 
things,  and  are  as  immutable  as  the  laws  of  nature  ;  of 
which,  indeed,  they  constitute  a  part. 

Having  seen  that  the  Prophetic  Writings  may  be  con- 
sistently interpreted  by  the  application  of  this  rule,  and  are 
thus  proved  to  be  written  by  a  plenary  inspiration  ;  we  are 
now  to  proceed  to  try- its  applicability  to  the  historical 
parts  of  the  Scriptures. 

1.  The  prophetical  Scriptures  form  a  species  of  Divine 
Writing,  in  which  the  mind  more  readily  expects  to  meet 
with  mysteries  beyond  wiiat  tlic  letter  exhibits.     Laying 


268  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

out  of  the  consideration  its  divine  origin,  we  should  not 
so  naturally  look  for  such  mysteries  in  the  plain  language 
of  history,  of  which  a  still  greater  portion  of  the  Word  of 
God  consists  :  and  yet  in  many  parts  even  of  the  plainest  of 
these  histories,  a  further  reference  to  things  of  a  spiritual 
nature  is  so  obviously  presented,  that  unless  tlie  mind  be 
fortified  against  the  admission  of  it  by  previous  confirma- 
tions, it  can  hardly  fail  to  see  it  as  soon  as  it  is  pointed  out. 
Accordingly,  I  find  that  the  typical  or  symbolic  character 
of  many  of  the  actions  recorded,  and  of  the  persons  men- 
tioned, in  the  historical  parts  of  the  Word  of  God,  is  ac- 
knowledged by  nearly  all  who  receive  the  Scriptures  as 
containing,  in  any  degree,  a  divine  Revelation.  As  we 
have  before  stated  the  sentiments  of  Biblical  Critics  on  the 
doul^le  sense  of  Divine  Prophecy,  we  will  here  deliver 
their  views  of  the  typical  nature  of  Scripture  History. 

(1.)  We  will  begin  with  those  parts  of  Scripture  His- 
tory which  record  divine  miracles  ;  there  being  a  general 
tendency  in  the  Commentators,  to  admit,  in  the  miracles, 
a  typical  representation. 

In  regard  to  these,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Home,  whose  work, 
as  being  the  most  recent,  I  have  repeatedly  quoted,  lays 
this  down  as  one  of  the  rules  of  Scripture  interpretation  : 
"  Although  the  de:  ign  of  miracles  is  to  mark  the  divine 
interposition,  yet  when  perusing  the  miracles  recorded  in 
the  Sacred  Writings,  we  are  not  to  lose  sight  of  the  mo- 
ral and  spiritual  instruction  concealed  under  them  ;  and 
especially  under  the  miracles  performed  by  our  Saviour."* 
This  he  confirms  by  this  remark  of  the  Rev.  W.  Jones. 
"  All  his  [our  Saviour's]  miracles  were  undoubtedly  so 
many  testimonies  that  he  was  sent  from  God  :  but  they 
were  much  more  than  tliis  ;  for  they  were  all  of  such  a 
kind,  and  attended  with  such  circumstances,  as  give  us  an 
insight  into  the  spiritual  state  of  man,  and  the  great  work 

*  Intioductidn  to  ihc  Scrij.'furcir,  Vol.  ii.  I't.  ii.  Ch.  iv.  §  ii. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &,C.  269 

of  his  salvation."  This  is  a  very  important  fact,  and  wor- 
thy of  the  most  careful  attention  :  it  also  leads  to  very 
important  conclusions  ;  since,  by  establishing  the  symbolic 
character  of  some  of  the  historical  transactions  recorded 
in  the  Word  of  God,  it  naturally  leads  us  to  expect  to  find 
the  same  character  in  others  ;  at  least,  if  the  miracles  of 
the  New  Testament  are  clearly  seen  to  be  fraught  with 
spiritual  instruction,  it  will  be  very  difhcult  to  deny  those 
of  the  Old  to  be  equally  replete  with  divine  wisdom.  We 
will  therefoj'C  state  a  summary  view  of  the  purport  of 
some  of  the  miracles  of  Jesus  Christ  as  offered  by  Dr. 
Jortin, — a  writer  whom  we  have  had  occasion  to  quote 
before,  and  who  holds  a  high  station  among  the  sober  and 
learned  divines  of  the  Church  of  England. 

This  author  considers  the  spiritual  import  of  the  mira- 
cles as  strengthening  the  argument  which  they  afford  for 
the  truth  of  Christianity  :  thus,  after  having  made  on 
them,  in  reference  to  this  argument,  several  remarks,  he 
says,  "  To  these  I  shall  add  some  proofs  which  are  more  re- 
mote from  common  observation,  and  wliich  perhaps  have 
not  been  sufficiently  considered. — The  miracles  of  Christ 
were  prophecies  at  the  same  time  :  they  were  such  mira- 
cles as  in  a  particular  manner  suited  his  character  :  tliey 
were  significant  emblems  of  his  designs,  and  figures  aptly 
representing  the  benefits  to  be  conferred  by  him  upon 
mankind  ;  and  they  had  in  them,  if  we  may  so  speak,  a 
spiritual  sense.  So  much  may  be  virged  in  behalf  of  this 
interpretation  of  them,  as  shall  probably  secure  it  from 
being  ranked  among  those  fanciful  expositions  which  are 
generally  slighted  by  wise  men."  Proceeding,  then,  to 
state  his  view  of  the  Saviour's  miracles,  he  says,  "  He 
cast  out  evil  spirits,  who  were  permitted  to  exert  them- 
selves at  tliat  time,  and  to  possess  many  persons  :  by  this 
he  shewed  that  he  came  to  destroy  the  empire  of  Satan, 
and  seemed  to  foretell,  that  wherever  his  doctrines  should 
prevail,  idolatry  and  vice   should   be   pi;t   to   flight. — lie 


2*70  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

gave  sight  to  tlie  blind — a  miracle  well  suiting  him  who 
brought    immortality    to   light,   and  taught   truth    to    an 
ignorant  world.     Lucem  caliganti  reddidit  mundo,    applied 
by  Q.  Curtius  to  a  Roman  emperor,   can  be  strictly  appli- 
ed to  Christ,  and  to  him  alone.     No  prophet  ever  did  this 
miracle  before  him,  as  none  ever  made  the  religious  disco- 
veries which  he  made.     Our  Saviour  himself  leads  us  to 
this   observation,  and  sets  his   miracle  in  the  same  view, 
saying  upon  that  occasion,   '  I  am  the  light  of  the  world  : 
I  am  come  into  this  world,  that  they  which  see  not,  might 
see.'     He  cured  the  deaf,   and  the    dumb,  and  the  lame, 
and  the  infirm,   and   cleansed  the  lepers,   and  healed  all 
manner   of  sicknesses,   to   shew   at  the  same  time  that  he 
was  the  physician  of  souls,  which  have  their  diseases  cor- 
responding in  some  manner  to  those   of  the  body,  and  are 
deaf  and  dumb,  and  impotent,  and  paralytic,  and  leprous, 
in  a   spiritual  sense.     He  fed  the  hungry  multitudes  by  a 
miracle  ;  which  aptly  represented  his   heavenly  doctrine, 
and  the  gospel  preached  to  the  poor,  and  which   he  him- 
self so  explains,  saying,  '  I  am  the  living  bread  which  came 
down  from  heaven  :  if  any  man  eat  of  this  bread  he  shall 
live  for  ever.'     Tlie  figtree,  which,   witii   all  its  fair  ap- 
pearance was  destitute   of  fruit,  and  died  away  at  his  re- 
buke, was   plainly  a  figure   of  the   Pharisaical   religion, 
which  was  only  outside  shew  ;  and   of  the   rejection  and 
fjiU  of  the  Jewish  nation. — He  raised  the  dead, — a  miracle 
peculiarly  suiting  him,  who  at  the   last    day  should  call 
forth  all  mankind  to  appear   before  him  ;  and  therefore, 
when  he  raised  Lazarus,  he  uttered  those  majestic  words : 
'  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life  :    He  that  believeth  in 
me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live.'     He  perform- 
ed some  miracles  upon  persons  that  were  not   of  his   own 
nation,  and  it  was  so  ordered  by  Divine  Providence,  that 
these  persons,   as  tlie  Centurion,  the  Syro-phocnician  wo- 
man, and  the  Samaritan  leper,  should  shew  a  greater   de- 
gree of  faitli  and  of  gratitude  than  the  Jews  to  whom  the 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    SiC.  271 

same  favours  were  granted.  This  was  an  indication,  that 
the  gospel  would  be  more  readily  received  by  the  gentiles 
than  by  the  Jews."* — So  the  two  states  of  the  Gadarene 
demoniac,  while  under  the  influence  of  Satanic  possession, 
and  when  restored  to  his  right  mind,  are  explained  by  Mr. 
Jones,!  as  respectively  representing  the  two  states  of  man, 
first,  while  living  in  a  course  of  sinful  practice  ;  and,  se- 
condly, when  "  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  his  mind  ;"  listen- 
ing to  the  precepts  of  the  gospel,  and  walking  in  holiness 
and  righteousness. 

Now  surely  it  must  be  allowed,  that  the  analogies  here 
pointed  out,  though  not  always  precisely  such  as  a  syste- 
matic study  of  spiritual  analogies  would  dictate,  are  yet 
so  "plain  and  unquestionable,  as  to  satisfy  every  one  that 
the  miracles  wrought  by  Jesus  Christ  were  not  merely 
intended  for  the  transient  benefit  of  a  few  persons,  in  a 
single  country,  at  a  certain  moment  in  the  history  of  the 
world, — nor  yet  merely  to  stand  recorded  as  instances  of 
the  divine  power  of  Him  who  wrought  them  ;  but  to  ex- 
hibit lessons  of  perpetual  instruction  to  weak  and  erring 
man, — to  lead  him  to  reflect  on  his  infirmities  and  defi- 
ciencies ;  and  to  point  out  where  he  may  be  relieved  vm- 
der  them,  by  guiding  him  to  the  Omnipotent  Physician  of 
souls,  the  mighty  Dispenser  of  spiritual  nourishment. 

(2.)  But  that  the  historical  parts  of  the  Word  of  God 
contain  a  reference  to  spiritual  and  divine  subjects  in  other 
instances,  as  well  as  when  delivering  the  account  of  mira- 
cles, is  also  universally  acknowledged.  Thus  it  is  gene- 
rally conceded,  that  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament 
abound  with  types  of  things  brought  to  light  in  the  New. 
Of  these,  the  writers  on  Scripture  interpretation  say  there 
are  three  sorts,  viz.  legal  types,  prophetical  types,  and  his- 

*  Jortin's  Rcmarl.s,  &c.  Vol.  i.  p.  255  to  261  ;    (Ed.  1805,)  where  other  ex- 
amples are  given. 

t   Cited  l)y  Home,  a.«  above. 


272  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OP 

torical  types  :  and  the  latter  are  thus  described  by  Home* 
from  the  works  of  Huet  and  Macknight  :  "  Historical 
types  are  the  characters,  actions,  and  fortunes,  of  some 
eminent  persons  recorded  in  the  Old  Testament,  so  order- 
ed by  Divine  Providence  as  to  be  exact  prefigurations  of 
the  characters,  actions,  and  fortunes  of  future  persons  who 
should  arise  vmder  the  Gospel  dispensation.  In  some  in- 
stances, the  persons  whose  characters  and  actions  prefigur- 
ed future  events,  were  declared  by  Jehovah  himself  to  be 
typical,  long  before  the  events  which  they  prefigured 
came  to  pass.  But  in  other  instances,  many  persons  really 
typical  were  not  known  to  be  such,  until  after  the  things 
which  they  typified  had  actually  happened, — they  are 
conseqiiently  ascertained  to  be  such  by  expositors  and  in- 
terpreters of  the  Scriptures,  by  fair  probabilities  agreeable 
to  the  analogy  of  faith.  The  most  remarkable  typical 
persons  and  things  mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament,"  he 
adds,  "  are  Adam,  Abel,  Noah,  Melchizedec,  Isaac,  the 
ram  sacrificed  by  Abraham,  Joseph,  the  pillar  of  fire,  the 
manna,  the  rock  in  the  desert  whence  water  flowed,  the 
scape  goat,  the  brazen  serpent,  Moses,  Aaron,  Joshua, 
Sampson,  Samuel,  David,  Solomon,  Jonah,  and  Zerubba- 
bel."  And  he  concludes  with  saying,  "  It  would  swell 
this  chapter  into  a  commentary  upon  very  numerous  pas- 
sages of  Scripture,  were  we  to  attempt  to  shew  how  clearly 
these  characters,  «&c.  correspond  with  their  great  antitype, 
tlie  Lord  Jesus  Christ. "f 

To  this  we  will  add  the  following  remarks,  on  "  the 
correspondences  of  types  and  antitypes,"  from  that  very 
eminent  author,  Dr.  Clarke  :  "  The  analogies  beticeen  the 
paschal  lamb,  and  the  Lamb  of  God  slain  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world  ;  between  the  Egyptian  bondage,  and  the 

*  I  do  not  here  concern  myself  with  the  distinction  which  thisaullior  makes 
between  a  type  and  a  sijmhol. 

t  Vol.  ii.  pt.  ii.  rii.  viii.  §  ii.  3. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    SlC.  273 

tyranny  of  sin  ;  between  the  baptism  of  the  Israelites  in  the 
sea,  and  in  the  cloud,  and  the  baptism  of  Christians  ;  be- 
tween the  passage  through  the  wilderness,  and  through  the 
present  world  ;  behveen  Jesus  [Joshua]  bringing  the  people 
into  the  promised  land,  and  Jesus  Christ  being  the  Captain 
of  salvation  to  believers  ;  between  the  sabbath  of  rest  pro- 
mised to  the  people  of  God  in  the  earthly  Canaan,  and  the 
eternal  rest  promised  in  the  heavenly  Canaan  ;  between  the 
liberty  granted  from  the  time  of  the  death  of  the  high 
priest,  to  him  that  had  fled  into  a  city  of  refuge,  and  the 
redemption  purchased  by  the  death  of  Christ  ;  between  the 
high  priest  entering  into  the  holy  place  every  year  with 
the  blood  of  others,  and  Christ's  once  entering  with  his 
owTi  blood  into  heaven  itself,  to  appear  in  the  presence  of 
God  for  us  :  these^  I  say,  and  innumerable  other  analogies,  be- 
tween the  shadows  of  things  to  come,  of  good  things  to 
come,  the  shadows  of  heavenly  things,  the  figtires  for  the 
time  then  present,  patterns  of  things  in  the  heavens,  and 
the  heavenly  things  themselves,  cannot,  without  the  force  of 
strong  prejudice,  be  conceived  to  have  happened  by  mere  chance, 
without  any  foresight  and  design.  There  arc  no  such  analogiei, 
much  less  siich  series  of  analogies,  found  in  the  books  of  mere  en- 
thusiastic writers  living  in  such  remote  ages  from  each  other.  It 
is  much  more  credible,  and  reasonable,  to  suppose,  ivJiat  St.  Paid 
affirms,  that  these  things  were  our  examples;  and  that,  in  the 
uniform  course  of  God^s  government  of  the  world,  all  these 
things  happened  to  them  of  old  for  examples,  and  that 
they  are  written  for  our  admonition,  upon  whom  the  ends 
of  the  world  are  come  :  And  hence  arises  that  aptness  of  simi- 
litude, in  the  application  of  several  legal  performances  to  the  mo- 
rality of  the  gospel,  that  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  not  to  have 
been  originally  intended.''^* 

It  is  to  be  observed,  that  Clarke  and  Jortin  adduce  their 
analogies,  as  affording  strong  evidence  of  the  divine  inspi- 

*  Clarke's  Eriri.  of  .\'al.  and  firr.  Rclio.  apiid  Jnrtiri.  Vol.  i.  p.  lol. 

S3  ' 


274  PLENARY   INSPIRATION   OP 

ration  of  the  Word  of  God  :  if  such  is  their  tendency, 
when  regarded  as  the  result  of  arbitrary  appointment  ra- 
ther than  as  the  effects  of  a  regular  and  universal  Law  ; 
how  strong  indeed  does  their  evidence  become,  when  it  is 
seen  that  the  latter  is  their  true  character,  and  that  this 
Law  governs  not  only  the  analogies  noticed  by  these  writ- 
ers, but  every  part  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  ! — that,  in 
fact,  the  Scriptures  consist  of  analogies  throughout,  and 
such  as  do  not  depend  for  their  meaning  on  simple  ap- 
pointment, or  for  their  interpretation  upon  conjecture,  but 
are  inherent  in  the  nature  of  things,  and  will  abide  the 
scrutiny  of  scientific  investigation  ! 

2.  These  large  admissions  and  strong  assertions  on  the 
subject  of  types,  by  the  most  esteemed  writers  on  Scrip- 
ture interpretation,  are  amply  sufficient  for  the  purpose 
for  which  we  have  quoted  them  : — they  prove  that  the 
fact  is  in  many  instances  unquestionable.*  It  is  true  that 
modern  critics  take  great  pains  to  limit  and  circumscribe 
their  admissions  on  this  subject.  Some  of  them  tell  us, 
that  although  those  things  and  persons  mentioned  in  the 
Old  Testament,  whose  typical  character  is  expressly  point- 
ed out  in  the  New,  must  have  it  allowed  them,  yet  we  are 
not  to  look  for  symbols  in  those  things  and  persons,  whose 
signification  the  New  Testament  writers  have  not  explain- 
ed. The  late  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  for  instance,  whose  ob- 
servations on  the  spiritual  sense  of  Scripture  we  cited  in 
our  second  Lecture,  while  he  contends  for  its  necessity, 
restricts  it  thus  :  "  Against  the  doctrine  of  a  twofold  ex- 
planation, Ayhat  is  to  be  urged  ?  I  know  of  no  objection 
worthy  of  regard,  unless  it  be  said,  that  the  door  will  thus 
be  opened  to  the  caprice  of  mystics  and  enthusiasts.  But 
it  is  not  for  unauthorized  applications  that  I  contend  ;  it  is 


*  Ad  propositum  satis  est,  etiam  in  hoc  sapientes  vestros  in  aliquera  modum 
nobiscum  consonare.    Min.  Fdiz. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  275 

only  for  those  ichich  have  been  made  by  Christ  or  his  apostles.'*^* 
But  who  does  not  see  tlie  futility  of  such  a  limitation  ? 
The  New  Testament  must  have  been  made  a  much  larger 
volume  than  it  is,  were  it  designed  to  unfold  every  parti- 
cular spiritual  reference,  contained  in  every  particular  part 
of  the  Old  Testament,  where  a  meaning  beyond  the  letter 
is  to  be  allowed.  Had  not  the  argument  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Galatians  led  the  apostle  to  mention  the  allegorical 
character  of  the  history  of  Hagar  and  Sarah.— the  intro- 
duction of  which  is  purely  incidental,  and  may  almost  be 
called  accidental, — many  critics  would  have  decried  the 
deducing  of  such  a  meaning  from  such  a  circumstance  as 
an  instance  of  unfounded  presumption.  So,  Melchizedec  is 
now  one  of  the  persons  in  the  Old  Testament,  whose  typical 
character  is  most  cordially  admitted:  but  had  not  the  argu- 
ment of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  incidentally  led  the 
writer  to  mention  it,  we  must  have  concluded,  upon  these 
principles,  that  it  did  not  exist.  Indeed  all  the  notices  in 
the  New  Testament  of  the  types  in  the  Old,  are  introduced 
in  the  same  incidental  manner  ;  and  they  are  clearly  men- 
tioned, not  to  inform  us,  that  although  those  persons  and 
things  had  a  typical  reference,  this  does  not  apply  to  any 
others  ;  but  to  instruct  us,  that  such  is  the  character  of  the 
Old  Testament  history  in  general.  There  cannot  be  a 
plainer  inference  than  this:  that  if  some  persons  and  things 
mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament  have  a  symbolic  significa- 
tion, so  have  others  :  and  if  it  was  not  intended  that  we 
should  make  such  an  inference,  what  an  unpardonable 
omission  was  it  in  the  Apostles  and  Evangelists,  when  they 
cite  passages  from  the  Old  Testament  as  having  a  spiritual 
signification,  not  to  have  guarded  their  quotations  as  our 
modern  critics  would  do! — not  to  liave  said  to  the  reader, 
"  Observe,  this  circumstance  has  a  spiritual  signification  ; 
but  no  others  are  to  be  interi)reted  upon  the  same  princi- 

*  Mi'ldlcton  on  the  Greek  Article,  p.  577. 


376  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

pie,  but  such  as  we  have  expressly  explained  !"  They, 
however,  have  not  thus  taken  away  the  key  of  knowledge; 
on  the  contrary,  by  explaining  the  nature  of  the  Holy 
Word  in  a  few  passages,  they  have  given  a  key  to  the  dis- 
covery of  the  whole.  What  they  have  explicitly  unfold- 
ed, must  be  intended  as  a  sample  of  the  rest.  Ex  pede  Her- 
culem.  If  the  Divine  Word  contains  a  divine  meaning  in 
one  passage,  undoubtedly  it  contains  a  similar  meaning  in 
every  other.  Suppose  a  man  were  presented  with  a  casket 
of  jewels,  a  few  of  them  being  also  laid  upon  the  lid  as  a 
sample  :  but  suppose  that,  instead  of  opening  the  casket  in 
search  of  more,  he  should  affirm  that  it  was  not  made  to 
open  at  all,  but  was  merely  a  solid  log  of  wood,  only  to 
be  admired  for  the  singular  workmanship  of  the  outside  : 
should  we  not  wonder  at  his  rusticity,  and  his  vinconscious- 
ness  of  the  treasure  he  possessed  .''  Yet  just  such  is  the 
conduct  of  those,  who,  after  seeing  a  few  of  the  jewels  of 
wisdom  contained  in  the  Divine  Word  brought  to  light  by 
the  Apostles,  deny  the  letter  to  inclose  any  more. 

But  while  we  regard  such  conduct  as  highly  inconsistent, 
we  do  not  mean  to  censure  too  severely  those  who  have 
adopted  it.  They  have  done  it  to  avoid  what  might  prove 
a  worse  evil.  The  reason  why  mankind  have  become  so  un- 
willing to  admit  the  typical  and  representative  character  of 
the  historical  parts  of  the  Word  of  God,  is  precisely  the 
same  as  that  which  has  made  them  so  reluctant  to  allow  uni- 
versally the  double  sense  of  prophecy; — the  want  of  a  Rule 
of  interpretation  sufficiently  clear  and  decided  to  be  appli- 
cable to  the  whole;  and  a  laudable  fear,  without  such  a 
Rule,  of  indulging  in  uncertain  conjecture.  I  trust  however 
that  the  Rule  which  we  have  before  laid  down,  arising  out 
of  the  certain  Relation  existing  in  the  nature  of  things  be- 
tween objects  natural  and  spiritual,  will  be  found  equally 
.  capable  of  an  application  to  this  part  of  the  subject.  If 
so,  all  reasonable  objection  to  the  universally  typical  cha- 
racter of  the  Scripture  history,  will  be  removed.     Bishop 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  277 

Middleton,  we  have  seen,  admits,  that  the  opening  of  the 
door  to  capricious  fancies,  forms  the  only  objection  wor- 
thy of  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  a  two-fold  exphanation  ; 
remove  then  this  danger,  and  such  minds  as  his  would 
surely  hail  with  joy  a  system,  which  relieves  them  from 
the  necessity  of  ti'eating  the  Word  of  God  itself  as  a  capri- 
ciously fi'amed  production. 

But  perhaps  it  will  be  said.  Suppose  we  admit  there  to 
be  a  Relation  of  Analogy  between  all  the  productions  of 
nature  and  certain  moral,  intellectual,  or  spiritual  essences  ; 
how  will  this  prove  that  all  the  persons,  cities,  nations, 
and  countries,  with  all  the  actions  of  men,  and  other  con- 
tingent events,  mentioned  in  the  history  of  the  Bible,  are 
equally  symbolic  of  moral  and  spiritual  things  ?  We  an- 
swer, This  was  the  result  of  a  divine  appointment,  and 
overruling  providence  ;  still  having  for  its  basis  the  natu- 
ral relation  between  things  natural  and  spiritual,  which 
includes,  as  was  shewn  in  our  last  Lecture,  an  analogy  be- 
tween the  relations  of  mind  and  the  relations  of  place. 
Thus,  for  the  sake  of  giving  a  code  of  divine  M^sdom  more 
completely  than  could  otherwise  have  been  effected,  a 
certain  people  was  selected  to  represent  a  true  church  :  the 
country  they  inhabited  was  made  to  assume  a  similar  re- 
presentation ;  and  On  all  the  surrounding  countries,  as 
briefly  stated  in  our  last,  a  representation  was  also  induced 
of  the  principles  connected  with  the  former,  more  nearly 
or  more  remotely,  and  either  in  the  way  of  subordination 
or  of  opposition.  Who,  for  instance,  does  not  see,  that 
Egypt  is  a  type  of  the  natural  state  of  man,  and  Canaan  of 
his  spiritual  state,  and  that  the  forty-years'  travels  and 
troubles  of  the  children  of  Israel  in  the  wilderness,  repre- 
sent the  temptations  and  trials  by  which  man  passes  from 
the  one  state  to  the  other  ?  These  types  are  so  plain,  that 
they  have  been  recognized  in  all  ages  :  but  if  the  history 
of  the  Israelites,  in  this  part  of  it,  is  symbolic,  as  it  so  cer- 
tainly i.?,  why  may  we  not  conclude  all  the  other  parts  of 


278  PLENARY   INSPIRATION   OP 

it  to  be  symbolic  also  ?  It  is  the  denial  of  this  truth,  and 
not  the  assertion  of  it,  that  tends  most  to  introduce  uncer- 
tainty and  capricious  interpretation.  As  noticed  in  our 
last,  it  is  the  jumping  at  random  from  the  spiritual  sense 
to  the  literal,  and  from  passages  where  commentators  ad- 
mit that  types  are  presented  to  others  where  this  is  denied, 
without  any  sufficient  guide  to  direct  our  judgment  in  the 
choice  of  either,  that  makes  the  interpretation  of  Scripture 
vague  and  unsatisfactory.  To  treat  the  Word  of  God  as 
so  irregular  and  inconsistent  a  production,  most  strongly 
tends,  in  fact,  to  bring  its  divine  inspiration  into  doubt. 
A  book  that  is  of  divine  inspiration  must  be  uniform 
throughout.  If  it  has  a  spiritual  signification  in  one  place, 
it  must  in  all.  And  most  assuredly,  whether  we  possess  it 
or  not,  some  universal  Rule  of  interpretation  must  exist, 
which  would  make  it  every  where  harmonious.* 

*  We  will  here  add  an  example  of  the  inconsistency  wliich  m\ist  pervade 
the  writings  of  Biblical  Critics,  whilst,  on  the  question  of  spiritual  or  of  merely 
literal  interpretation,  they  halt  between  two  opinions,  reasoning  at  one  time 
in  favour  of  the  former  sentiment  and  at  another  in  favour  of  the  latter,  and 
endeavouring  to  combine  the  two  systems  into  one,  by  portioning  out  the 
Sacred  Code  between  them.  We  have  repeatedly  cited  Home's  Introduction 
to  the  Scriptures,  as  esteeming  it  a  very  valuable  work,  and  because  the 
learned  Author  gives  many  strong  testimonies  in  fevour  of  the  spiritual  sense 
of  the  Divine  Word:  yet,  led  by  the  high  authority  of  some  modern  critics  of 
high  name,  this  intelligent  writer  repeatedly  exhibits,  on  this  subject,  extreme 
vacillation,  and  sometimes  so  limits  his  admissions,  and  so  counteracts  his 
most  decided  assertions,  as  to  make  them  almost  nugatory.  The  following 
passage,  for  instance,  would  certainly  lead  the  reader  to  concl.ude,  that  he 
ought,  throughout  the  Scriptures  without  exception,  to  look  for  a  spiritual 
sense  :  "  Since  we  learn  from  the  New  Testament,  that  some  histories,  which 
in  themselves  convey  no  peculiar  meaning,  must  be  interpreted  allegorically 
or  mystically,  (as  Gal.  iv.  22 — 24.)  and  that  persons  and  things  are  there  evi- 
dently types  and  emblems  of  the  Christian  dispensation,  and  its  divine  found- 
er, as  in  Matt.  xii.  40,  John  iii.  14, 15,  1  Cor.  x.  4,  and  Heb.  vii.  2,  3  ;  it  is 
plain  that  the  mystical  sense  ought  to  be  followed  in  the  histories  and  prophe- 
cies of  tlic  Old  Testament,  and  especially  in  such  passages  as  arc  referred  to 
by  the  inspired  writers  of  the  New  Testament ;  who  having  given  us  the  key 
by  which  to  unlock  the  mystical  sense  of  Scripture,  we  not  only  may,  but 
ought,  cautiously  and  diligcntli/  to  make  use  of  it.     Where  the  inspired  writ- 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &,C.  279 

II.  As  a  knowledge  of  the  true  nature  of  the  Scripture 
history  is  of  so  great  importance  to  the  right  understand- 
ing of  the  Word  of  God,  we  will  here  make  upon  it  a  few 

jrs  themselves  direct  us  to  such  an  interpretation,  when .  otherwise  we  might 
not  perceive  its  necessity,  then  we  liave  an  absolute  mithority-  for  the  exposi- 
tion, which  supersedes  our  own  conjectures,  and  we  are  not  only  safe  in 
abiding  by  that  authority,  but  should  be  unwarranted  in  rejecting  it."*  Here 
he  delivers  his  own  sentiments  ;  and  though  he  particularly  mentions  the  pas- 
sages which  have  been  explained  in  a  sense  different  from  that  of  the  letter  by 
the  writers  of  the  New  Testament,  he  does  not  exclude  any  others.  By  and 
by,  however,  he  introduces,  from  Beausobre,  this  limitation :  "  No  mystical  or 
typical  sense  ought  to  be  put  upon  a  plain  passage  of  Scripture,  the  meaning 
of  which  is  obvious  and  natural ;  unless  it  be  evident  from  some  other  part  of 
Scripture  that  the  place  is  to  be  understood  in  a  double  sense. "t  But  what  a 
remarkable  specimen  of  zigzag  observation,  first  running  in  one  direction  and 
then  in  another,  have  we  in  the  following  sentences  !  In  favour  of  the  reality 
and  the  superiority  of  the  spiritual  sense,  he  gives  this  excellent  remark  ; 
"  The  literal  sense,  it*has  been  well  observed,  is  undoubtedly  first  in  point 
of  nature,  as  well  as  in  order  of  signification ;  and  consequently,  when 
investigating  the  meaning  of  any  passage,  this  must  be  ascertained  before 
we  proceed  to  search  out  its  mystical  import :  but  the  true  and  genuine 
mystical  or  spiritual  sense  excels  the  literal  in  dignity,  the  latter  being 
only  the  medium  of  conveying  the  former,  which  is  more  evidently  de- 
signed by  the  Holy  Spirit."  Yet  it  seems  that  this  sense  so  superior  in  dig' 
nity,  and  for  the  conveyance  of  which  the  letter  is  composed,  is  to  with- 
draw upon  occasion  and  leave  its  conveyance  empty  ;  for  "  Though  the  true 
spiritual  sense  of  the  text  is  undoubtedly  to  be  most  highly  esteemed,  it  by  no 
means  follows  that  we  are  to  look  for  it  in  ever)'  passage  of  Scripture  !"  We 
are  not  too  easily  to  be  satisfied  with  the  mere  shell,  neither  ;  for  the  sentence 
adds,  "  it  is  not,  however,  to  be  inferred  that  spiritual  interpretations  are  to  be 
rejected,  although  they  should  not  be  clearly  expressed."  But,  after  all,  "  the 
spiritual  meaning  of  a  passage  is  there  only  to  be  sought,  where  it  is  evident, 
from  certain  criteria,  that  such  meaning  was  designed  by  the  Holy  Spirit. "f 
These  certain  criteria  are  afterwards  i-estricted  within  Jimits  sufficiently  nar- 
row :  but,  assuredly,  no  criterion  can  be  more  certain,  that  a  writing  contains 
a  spiritual  sense,  than,  that  it  was  actually  dictated  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
proceeded  fi'om  Him,  all  whose  words  are  spirit  and  are  life !  Our  author  con- 
cludes his  chapter  "  On  the  spiritual  Interpretation  of  Scripture,"  with  a  speci- 
men of  similar  vacillation  :  each  sentence  conveys  an  apprehension,  that  in  the 
previous  sentence  he  had  gone  too  far :  they  are  a  series  of  checks  and  coun- 
terchecks :  and  he  strikes  the  balance  so  exactly,  that  his  remarks  each  way 
are  equipoised,  and  nothing  positive  remains.     He  says,  "  In  the  spiritual  in- 

*  Vol.  ii.  Pt.  ii.  Ch.  i.  §  V.         t  Vol.  ii.  Ch.  viii.  §  iii.  9.         t  lb.  Ch.  vi. 


280  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OP 

general  observations,  before  we  proceed  to  illustrate,  by 
examples,  the  applicability  of  the  Rule  afforded  by  the 
science  of  analogies  to  its  interpretation. 

terpretation  of  Scripture,  there  are  two  extremes  to  be  avoided,  viz.  on  the  one 
hand,  that  we  do  not  restrict  sucli  interpretation  within  too  narrow  Umits ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  we  do  not  seek  for  mystical  meanings  in  every 
passage,  to  the  exclusion  of  its  literal  and  common  sense,  when  that  sense  is 
sufficiently  clear  and  intelligible."  It  is  to  be  remembered,  that  he  had  before 
admitted  the  literal  sense  to  be  "  sufficiently  clear  and  intelligible,"— so  much 
so,  that  "  we  might  not  perceive  the  necessity"  of  a  spiritual  interpretation, — 
in  many  of  the  passages  "  where  the  inspired  writers  themselves  direct  us  to 
such  an  interpretation."  However,  having  now,  at  the  expense  of  consistency 
with  himself  and  with  them,  thus  settled  the  two  extremes,  he  dwells  through 
two  or  three  sentences  upon  the  letter  of  them,  and  represents  "  the  evils  of 
spiritualizing  the  sacred  writings  too  much"  as  so  formidable,  that  the  reader 
is  in  danger  of  forgetting  the  rule  first  laid  down,  that  we  are  "  not  to  restrict 
such  interpretation  within  too  narrow  limits."  Checking  himself,  therefore, 
he  says,  "  In  these  strictures,  the  author  trusts  he  shall  %iot  be  charged  with 
improperly  censuring  that  fair  and  sober  accommodation  of  the  historical  and 
parabolical  parts  to  present  times  and  circumstances,  or  to  the  elucidation  of 
either  the  doctrines  or  precepts  of  Christianity,  which  is  sanctioned  by  the 
Word  of  God  : — such  an  accommodation  is  perfectly  allowable,  and  may  be 
highly  useful ;  and  in  .some  cases  it  is  absolutely  necessary."  But  now  he 
again  fears  that  he  has  gone  too  far;  so,  checking  himself  again,  he  adds, 
"  Let  every  truly  pious  man,  however,  be  aware  of  the  danger  of  extending 
this  principle  beyond  its  natural  and  obvious  application,"  &c. — It  is  thus  that 
writers  endeavour  to  hide  their  inconsistencies  behind  loose  general  terms.  In 
a  proper  sense,  certainly,  the  "  natural  and  obvious  application"  of  the  princi- 
ple of  spiritual  interpretation,  is,  to  every  part  of  the  Word  of  God.  If  the 
Scriptures  contain  a  spiritual  sense  at  all,  to  assign  this  to  some  places  and  not 
to  others  is  in  the  highest  degree  unnatural :  and  this  capricious  application 
of  it  is  so  far  fi'om  being  the  obvious  one,  that  it  is  contrary  to  what  every  per- 
son would  expect,  who  considers  the  undeviating  regularity  which  distinguishes 
all  the  works  of  God.  Such  a  person,  being  previously  assured  that  the  Scrip- 
tures are  the  Word  of  God,  on  being  told  that  they  contain  in  some  parts  both 
a  spiritual  and  a  literal  sense,  and  in  others  a  literal  sense  alone,  would  think 
the  assertion  just  as  reasonable,  as  to  be  told,  that  some  portions  of  the  human 
race  arc  constituted  both  of  souls  and  bodies,  and  others  of  bodies  only. 

We  have  not  made  the  above  remarks  from  any  inclination  to  depreciate 
Mr.  Home's  valuable  "  Introduction  ;"  but  merely  to  exemplify  the  difficultiea 
and  inconsistencies  which  are  unavoidable,  when  the  Word  of  God  is  regard- 
ed as  not,  being  a  uniform  work,  but  is  supposed  to  be  itself  affected  with  the 
monstrous  inconsistency,  of  being  written  upon  one  principle  in  one  sentence, 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  281 

To  view  this  subject  in  its  proper  light,  we  ought  to  have 
just  ideas  of  the  nature  of  the  dispensation  under  which 
the  Israelites  lived.  Of  this  Paul  gives  us  plain  intimations 
when  he  says,  "  that  the  law  was  our  schoolmaster,  to 
bring  us  to  Christ  ;"*  and  when  he  also  says,  of  tixe  festi- 
vals of  the  Mosaic  ritual,  that  they  were  "  a  shadow  of 
things  to  come,  but  the  body  is  all  ;"!  and,  further,  that 
"  the  law  having  a  shadow  of  good  things  to  come,  and 
not  the  very  image  of  those  things,  can  never,  with  those 
sacrifices  which  they  offered  year  by  year  continual!)'', 
make  the  comers  thereunto  perfect  :"+  declarations  which 
shew,  that  the  Mosaic  dispensation  was  merely  an  inter- 
mediate arrangement  of  the  Divine  Economy,  established 
to  form  a  necessary  link  in  the  great  chain  of  the  divine 
operations  for  the  salvation  of  men,  and  to  fill  up  the  in- 
terval between  the  period  when  the  pure  internal  worship 
and  knowledge  of  divine  things,  which  existed  with  the 
posterity  of  Adam  and  of  Noah,  were  lost,  and  that  in 
which  they  should  be  restored  by  the  advent  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  We  thus,  also,  are  instructed,  that  the  rites, 
records,  and  prophecies,  given  to  that  church,  were  not 
so  much  given  for  their  private  advantage,  as  with  a  view 

and  upon  a  contrary  one  in  the  next.  The  blemishes  we  have  noticed,  do  not 
belong,  personally,  to  Mr.  Home,  but  to  his  system  ;  and  in  them  he  only  fol- 
lows other  writers.  Indeed,  we  think,  upon  this  subject,  that  his  own  views 
are  generally  superior  to  those  of  the  authorities  whom  he  quotes  ;  for  some  of 
the  best  of  his  remarks  in  favour  of  spiritual  interpretation,  are  his  own,  whilst 
those  which  he  introduces  against  it  are  adopted  by  hira  from  others.  The 
two  or  three  puling  sentences  which  we  have  last  animadverted  upon,  are 
taken  by  him  from  the  Christian  Observer.  Altogether,  what  he  has  said  in 
favour  of  spiritual  interpretation,  having  a  strong  base  in  reason  and  Scrip- 
ture, cannot  be  overturned  ;  what  he  has  advanced  against  its  universality,  be- 
ing loaded  with  a  weight  of  inconsistency,  has,  of  itself,  a  tendency  to  fall :  and 
from  a  comparison  of  the  whole  the  Biblical  Student  must,  we  should  expect, 
be  led  to  wish  for  a  Rule  of  interpretation,  which  would  vindicate  the  spiritual 
nature  of  the  Word  of  God  throughout,  and  exhibit  it  as  an  harmonious  and 
coherent  sy.stem. 

»Gal.  iii.  24.  t  r..l.  ii.  17.  |  Hia).  x.  I. 

3G 


282  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

to  the  permanent  advantage  of  all  nations  under  a  future 
dispensation,  in  which  should  be  imparted  the  knowledge 
and  enjoyment, — the  real  substance  and  body, — of  those 
divine  things,  which,  among  the  Jews,  were  only  symbo- 
lized and  represented. 

I.  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  that  arrangement  of  the 
Divine  Economy  in  the  government  of  the  world,  by 
whic'i  the  inconsiderable  nation  of  the  Israelites,  occupy- 
ing a  country  of  inconsiderable  extent,  was  selected  from 
all  others,  and  invested  with  privileges  as  the  chosen  peo- 
ple of  God  ;  and  whatever  reasons  the  sceptical  mind  may- 
find  for  refusing  to   recogniss   t'lem  in  that  character  ; 
there  yet  are  circumstances  attending  their  history,  which, 
upon  any  other  hypothesis  than  that  which  admits  their 
pretensions,  it  would  be  impossible  to  explain.     The  chief 
of  these  circumstances  is  the  singular  fact,  that  this  nation, 
though  by  no  means  so  distinguished  by  attainments  in 
arts,  sciences,  and  literature,  as  some  of  those  by  which 
it  was  surrounded,  alone  maintained,  through  many  hun- 
dred years,  the  great  tru  h  of  the  unity  of  God,  and  alone 
worshipped  him  as  an  Infinite  S^)iiit,  to  attempt  the  repre- 
sentation of  whom  by  sculpture  or  painting,  is  to  be  guilty 
of  profanation  ;  while  even  the  most  polished  of  the  other 
nations  of  the  globe  were  sunk  in  the  grossest  polytheism 
and  the  most  senseless  idolatry.     That  this  superiority  of 
the  Jews  above  all  other  people,  in  their  ideas  of  the  most 
sublime  of  all  subjects,  arose  from  any  superiority  of  in- 
tellect  of  their  own,   is  a   position  which  no  admirer  of 
classical  antiquity  will  admit  :  nor,  indeed,   can   it   with 
any  shadow  of  trutli  be  asserted  ;  since  their  own  history 
abundantly   evinces,    that,   of  themselves,    they   were  as 
prone  to  polytheism  and   idolatry  as  their   neighbours. 
This  was  true  of  them  from  the  highest  in  rank  to  the 
lowest, — from  the  priest  and  king  to   the  meanest   of  the 
populace.     Aaron,  the  brother  of  Moses  and  the  first  high 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  2SS 

priest,  made  a  golden  calf  for  the  people  to  worship  with- 
in a  month  or  two  after  their  deliverance  from  Egypt,  and 
after  witnessing  those  extraordinary  displays  of  the  power 
of  Jehovah,  in  the  execution  of  which  he  had  himself  been 
made  a  priiici;  al  instrument  ;  and  Solomon,  who  had 
erected  the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  even  "  his  heart  was  turn- 
ed from  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  which  had  appeared  to 
him  twice,"*  and  he  built  places  of  worship  for  the  idols 
of  his  foreign  wives,  at  which  he  worshipped  himself: 
whilst  the  bulk  of  the  nation  was  so  addicted  to  idolatrous 
practices,  that  t'  ey  sdt^om  entirely  discontinued  them  ; 
from  the  death  of  Joshua,  presently  after  which  "  they 
forsook  the  Lord,  and  served  Baal  and  Ashteroth,"f  to  the 
Babylonian  ciplivity,  which  overtook  thiui  ''  because  of 
their  wickedness  which  they  committed  to  provoke  the 
Lord  to  anger,  in  that  they  went  to  burn  incense,  and  to 
serve  other  gods."|  These  facts  sufficiently  evince  what 
was  the  bent  of  that  people's  mind  :  it  is  evident  then, 
that  had  not  a  succession  of  prophets  arisen,  who  conti- 
nually called  them  from  the  worship  of  idols  to  that  of 
the  one  true  God,  this  nation  would  have  been  as  deeply 
immersed  in  ignorance  respecting  the  nature  and  unity  of 
the  Divine  Being,  as  the  most  stupid  and  superstitious  of  ' 
their  neighbours.  And  whence  did  the  prophets  obtain 
their  pure  and  elevated  sentiments  ?  Arising  among  a  peo- 
ple as  prone  to  the  worship  of  stocks  and  stones  as  alfthose 
around  them,  and  in  the  midst  of  nations,  who,  though  in 
some  respects  more  enlightened,  never  produced  such  wit- 
nesses to  the  one  true  God ;  whence  could  the  prophets 
have  received  the  testimony  which  they  bore,  but  from 
Him  to  whose  truth  they  testified  ?  Under  all  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  tiie  existence  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
one  true  God,  and  the  denial  of  all  other  gods,  whether 
co-equal  or  subordinate,  with  tiie  rejection  of  image-wor- 

*  1  Kings  xi.  9.  I  Jutigts  ii.  13.  ?  Jer.  xliv.  3. 


384  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

ship,  in  the  religion  of  the  Jews,  are  facts  which  admit  of 
no  rational  explanation  but  that  which  the  writers  of  the 
Jewish  Scriptures  advance  : — that  they  were  immediately 
taught  them  by  the  true  God  himself.  The  argument  is 
an  unanswerable  one  :  it  has  been  ably  handled  by  many 
of  the  Cliristian  advocates  ;  and  in  their  hands  I  leave  it ; 
the  simple  mention  of  it  being  all  that  is  requisite  to  our 
present  purpose. 

But  though  the  infidel  can  never  satisfactorily  account, 
on  his  principles,  for  the  great  fact  just. mentioned,  he  can 
raise  difficulties  from  other  sources,  which  some  may  find 
embarrassing.  He  objects,  If  the  Jews  were  really  chosen 
of  God  in  preference  to  all  other  people,  how  comes  it  to 
pass  that  they  were  not  better  than  all  other  people  ?  And 
if  God  thought  proper  to  reveal  himself  to  man,  how  came 
he  to  shut  up  the  knowledge  thus  revealed  in  a  corner, 
and  confine  it  so  long  to  one  of  the  most  inconsiderable 
nations  of  the  earth  ?  It  is  remarkable  that  the  circum- 
stances thus  made  the  ground  of  objection,  are  explicitly 
avowed,  as  if  to  anticipate  the  objections,  in  the  writings 
of  Moses  :  "  Understand,"  he  exclaims  to  the  people, 
"  that  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee  not  this  good  land  to 
possess  it  for  thy  righteousness  ;  for  tliou  art  a  stiff-necked 
people."*  "  The  Lord  did  not  set  his  love  upon  you, 
nor  choose  you,  because  ye  were  more  in  number  than  any 
people  ;  for  ye  were  the  fewest  of  all  people."!  These 
facts  being  so,  it  has  been  concluded,  by  all  who  are  dis- 
posed to  interpret  them  in  a  liberal  manner,  not  that  the 
Jews  were  not  selected  at  all, — there  being  other  conside- 
rations which  so  strongly  prove  the  affirmative, — but  that 
they  were  not  selected  for  any  private  benefit  intended  to 
them  above  others,  but  to  promote  the  designs  of  Divine 
Benevolence  towards  maidiind  at  large,  and  thus  for  tlie 
eventual  benefit  of  the  w^hole  human  race.     This  also  has 

'  Deul.  ix.  6.  t   Ch.  vii.  7. 


THE    SCRIPTURKS    ASSERTED,    &C.  285 

been  urged  by  many  Christian  writers.  "  Sliall  we  dare," 
it  is  well  asked  by  Bishop  Watson,  "  to  accuse  God  of 
injustice,  for  not  having  distributed  the  gifts  of  nature  in 
the  same  degree  to  all  kinds  of  animals,  when  it  is  proba- 
ble that  this  very  inequality  of  distribution  may  be  the 
means  of  producing  the  greatest  sum  total  of  happiness  to 
the  whole  system  ?  In  exactly  the  same  manner,"  he  adds, 
"  may  we  reason  concerning  the  acts  of  God's  es})ecial 
providence.  If  we  consider  any  one  act,  such  as  tliat  of 
appointing  the  Jews  to  be  his  peculiar  people,  as  uncon- 
nected with  every  other,  it  may  appear  to  be  a  partial 
display  of  his  goodness  ;  it  may  excite  doubts  concerning 
the  wisdom  or  benignity  of  the  Divine  Nature.  But  if  we 
connect  the  history  of  the  Jews  with  that  of  other  nations, 
from  the  most  remote  antiquity  to  the  present  time,  we 
shall  discover  that  they  were  not  chosen  so  much  for  their 
own  benefit  or  on  account  of  their  own  merit,  as  for  the 
general  benefit  of  mankind."* 

Certainly,  this  is  the  reasonable  conclusion  ;  that  the 
selection  of  the  Jews  as  a  peculiar  people,  or  to  form  for  a 
while  the  visible  professing  church,  was  a  necessary  link 
in  the  great  chain  of  those  divine  operations,  which  have 
for  their  object  to  promote,  in  tiie  greatest  possible  degree, 
the  general  welfare  of  the  human  race.  And  what  if  tlie 
very  circumstances  of  their  being  "  a  stiff-necked  people," 
and  "  the  fewest  of  all  people,"  were  those  which  render- 
ed them  fitter  tlian  any  other  nation  to  fill  the  station  to 
which  they  were  appointed,  and  thus  were  the  cause  of 
their  being  selected  for  it  ?  Paradoxical  as  this  may  sound, 
I  apprehend  it  is  the  truth.  A  dispensation  like  that 
wliich  Moses  was  the  instrument  of  foundino-,  was  neces- 
sary, before  the  higher  dispensation  of  the  Christian  Reli- 
gion could  be  imparted  :  Nor.e  could  be  the  jjropcr  sub- 
jects of  such  a  dispensation,  but  a  people  of  an  external 


Apol.  f)r  the  j5ible,  Let.  '1. 


286  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

but  very  peculiar  character,  little  receptive  of  the  interiors 
of  religion,  (which  is  the  spiritual  meaning  of  the  epithet 
"  stiff-necked,")  but  capable,  beyond  those  who  look  more 
at  essentials,  of  attending  to  the  minutii-e  of  ceremonial 
worship,  and  of  being  impressed  with  a  sense  of  sanctity 
during  the  performance  of  such  worship  :  And  none  could 
be  the  actors  in  a  ceremonial  worship  which  was  only  to 
be  performed  in  one  place  in  the  whole  country,  and  at 
which  place  the  whole  male  j)opulation  was  required  to  be 
present  three  times  in  a  year,  but  a  people  few  in  number, 
and  inhabiting  a  country  of  small  extent.  Thus  the  very 
qualities  of  being  stilf-necked  and  few  in  number,  were 
those  which  rendered  the  Jewish  people  fit  to  be  subjects, 
in  that  peculiar  era  of  the  world,  of  such  a  dispensation  as 
alone  could  be  given  at  that  era. 

2.  Assuming  then  that  tlie  Jews  "  were  not  chosen  so 
much  for  their  own  benefit,  as  for  the  general  benefit  of  man- 
kind ;"  liow  did  their  selection  conduce  to  this  great  end? 
I  w^ould  answer.  In  two  ways  :  first,  in  forming  a  church, 
which,  as  just  stated,  was  necessary  as  a  preparation  for 
tlie  Christian  church,  the  establishment  of  which,  and  its 
exaltation  to  a  more  glorious  state  than  has  hitherto  been 
seen,  have  always  been  intended  by  Divine  Providence,  as 
the  means  of  imparting  the  greatest  possible  benefits  to 
mankind:  and,  secondly,  as  furnishing  the  means  by  wliicli 
the  Holy  Word  might  be  written  in  the  form  in  which  we 
now  possess  it  ;  being  that  which  is  best  adapted  to  render 
permanent  the  blessings  of  divine  revelation,  to  make  them 
the  most  extensive,  and  to  secure  them  from  perversion. 
We  will  remark  upon  the  utility  of  the  calling  of  the  Is- 
raelites, for  the  accomplishment  of  both  these  objects. 

(1.)  It  is  evident  to  all  who  have  reflected  a  moment  on 
the  subject,  that  the  Divine  Operations  ever  proceed  by 
regular  gradations  and  by  orderly  succession  :  they  never 
jump  to  the  end  in  view  at  once,  but  alwavs  act  by  a  series 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    SlC.  287 

of  means  terminating  in  the  intended  result  :  and  where 
the  actions  of  intelligent  creatures  intervene,  it  even  ap- 
pears that  the  Divine  Providence  so  accommodates  itself  to 
their  nature,  as  to  allow  them  to  act,  to  a  certain  extent, 
in  contravention  to  its  designs,  permitting  its  own  plans  to 
be  modified  by  them,  yet  so  overruling  the  whole,  as 
eventually  to  accomplish  its  own  purposes,  though,  appa- 
rently, by  a  different  course  from  that  which  would  have 
been  pursued,  had  not  the  intractability  of  self-willed  crea- 
tures stood  in  the  way.  Thus,  since  much  evil  exists, 
which  we  are  certain  the  Divine  Being  does  not  will,  it 
cannot  be  said  with  truth,  that  "  whatever  is,  is  right  ;'* 
yet,  as  we  may  be  sure  that  no  more  evil  is  permitted  than 
cannot  be  lestrained  without  depriving  man  of  his  free- 
agency,  and  destroying  him  as  a  human  being  altogether  ; 
and  as  the  whole  is  so  overruled  a;  to  be  productive  in  the 
end  of  the  greatest  possible  degree  of  good  ;  we  may  say 
with  the  utmost  confidence,  that  whatever  is,  is  best. 

That  the  divine  operations  proceed  by  regular  grada- 
tions and  in  orderly  succession,  is  evident  from  every  pro- 
duction of  nature.  Look,  for  instance,  at  the  origin  and 
growth  of  a  tree.  A  seed  falls  to  the  ground  :  its  parts 
being  at  cnce  softened  by  moisture  and  opened  by  Avarmtli, 
it  shoots  in  one  direction  a  root  into  the  earth  and  in  the 
other  a  stem  into  the  air,  which  successively  increasing  in 
height  and  thiclcness,  and  putting  forth  branches  and 
leaves,  till  it  has  attained  its  })roper  maturity  in  a  certain 
number  of  years,  tlie  tree  at  length  bears  its  fruit,  and 
yields  again  new  seeds  :  and  never  is  it  perfected  without 
passing  through  these  stages.  Look  again  at  man,  and 
consider  him  only  as  de.stined  to  fill  a  station  in  human 
society.  He  is  born  an  infant  :  the  faculties  of  his  mind 
and  body  open  by  degrees,  and  more  perfectly  as  they  are 
assisted  by  culture  :  at  length,  in  about  twenty  years,  his 
frame  acquires  its  perfect  form  and  stature,  and  his  ration- 
al powers  also  are  fully  developed  :   and  then,  and  not  be- 


288  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

fore,  he  is  capable  of  filling  Ins  place  among  his  fellows  in 
society.  Now,  tliough  this  is  the  end  designed  by  his 
Creator  from  his  birth,  he  never  springs  up  a  full  grown 
man  at  once,  nor  are  any  of  the  steps  of  the  process  neces- 
sary to  his  becoming  such  ever  dispensed  with.  His 
growing  up  an  adult  human  being  and  a  rational  creature, 
is,  however,  in  the  design  of  his  Creator,  only  a  lower 
end,  subordinate  to  that  of  his  becoming  a  subject  of  eter- 
nal happiness  :  but  to  this  his  own  concurrence  is  necessa- 
ry ;  wherefore  here  the  Divine  Creator  allows  his  own 
operations  and  designs  to  be  modified  by  the  determina- 
tions and  actions  of  his  creature. 

Now  if  in  individual  cases, — in  the  individual  inhabitants 
of  the  world,  and  even  in  its  inanimate  productions, — the 
operations  of  the  Divine  Hand, — the  dispensations  of  the 
Divine  Providence, — so  clearly  follow  a  regular  order  and 
proceed  by  successive  steps  ;  unquestionably  the  case  must 
be  the  same  in  regard  to  the  human  race  in  general,  con- 
sidered as  a  whole,  and  viewed  in  its  progress  from  the 
beginning  of  creation  to  the  latest  evolutions  of  time. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  similar  order  is  observed  in 
the  Divine  Economy  as  it  regards  the  whole,  as  we  see  is 
observed  in  regard  to  each  individual  of  each  successive 
generation  ;  and  if  we  are  not  equally  sensible  of  it,  the 
reason  must  be,  because  our  observation  takes  in  so  small 
a  part  of  the  chain  ;  because  we  are  only  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  man  as  he  is  in  the  generation,  and  in  the 
country,  in  which  we  live  ;  and  because  the  knowledge 
which  we  possess  of  former  times  from  history  is  extreme- 
ly general  and  extremely  partial,  and  does  not  reach,  in  an 
autlientic  form,  except  in  the  Scripture  records  which  are 
very  brief,  to  any  very  remote  antiquity  :  it,  moreover,  is 
seldom  studied  by  us  for  the  light  it  may  afford  in  regard 
to  the  history,  not  of  political  events,  but  of  human  na- 
ture. It  is  indeed  a  proverbial  remark,  that  human  nature 
is  the  same  la  all  times  and  in  all  places.     As  to  tlie  gene- 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    ScC.  2S9 

ral  characteristics  of  human  nature,  no  doubt  this  is  true  : 
but  tiiat  its  general  characteristics  appear  under  an  endless 
diversity  of  modifications,  is  a  truth  equally  certain.  We 
see  how  great  these  diversities  are,  among  the  inhabitants 
of  different  countries  and  climates,  the  subjects  of  different 
governments,  and  the  disciples  of  various  forms  of  religion, 
even  Avhen,  in  time,  they  are  all  contemporaries  :  how  nu- 
merous then  must  the  diversities  become,  when  remoteness 
of  ages  is  also  allowed  its  operation  !  The  inhabitants  of 
New  Zealand  are  not  more  antipodes  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  British  metropolis  in  physical  tiian  in  moral  geography: 
and  it  is  probable,  that  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  can 
form  an  idea  approximating  to  the  truth  respecting  the 
character  of  the  primeval  inliabitants  of  the  globe.  But 
all  these  varieties  must,  unquestionably,  be  arranged  by 
the  Divine  Operator  in  some  certain  order,  such  as  is  most 
conducive  to  the  well-being  of  the  whole;  more  especially 
the  successive  varieties,  or  the  changes  in  the  state  of  man- 
kind during  successive  generations  :  and  where  the  per- 
verse self-Avill  of  man  interferes,  so  to  speak,  with  the  di- 
vine designs,  so  as  to  prevent  them  from  being  accom- 
plished in  the  most  direct  manner,  still,  doubtless,  it  is 
overruled  so  as  to  be  subservient  to  them  in  the  end.  The 
divine  designs  are  ever  kept  in  view,  and  will  finally  take 
effect,  although  the  operations  of  the  Divine  Providence  to 
this  purpose  receive  some  modification  from  the  intracta- 
bility of  the  subjects  on  which  it  has  to  act.  But  even 
where  they  are  resisted  most,  still  a  regularity  of  progres- 
sion will  be  maintained.  The  course  of  a  fever  is  as  regu- 
lar as  the  planetary  motions  :  and  whatever  changes  the 
self-will  of  man  may  occasion  in  his  own  state;  and  however 
Divine  Wisdom  may  in  consequence  modify  the  operations 
of  its  Providence  ;  still  we  cannot  doubt  that  the  whole  is 
so  arranged  as  to  flow  in  most  regular  order,  and  that  the 
revolutions  of  the  human  mind,  occurring  in  successive 
37  ■  '  ' 


290  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

ages,  are  guided  in  as  certain  a  course  as  the  revolutions 
of  the  solar  system. 

Such  seem  to  be  the  views  which  reason  would  suggest 
respecting  the  order  observed  in  all  the  proceedings  of  the 
Divine  Economy  and  Providence  ;  and  the  testimony  of 
Scripture  is  to  the  same  effect:  it  always  represents  the  di- 
vine operations  as  regarding  the  fitness  of  times  and  states, 
and  as  never  precipitating  events  till  the  suitable  season 
has  arrived  ;  and  also,  as  allowing  the  determinations  of 
mankind  to  modify  its  arrangements.  Thus,  when  the 
possession  of  Canaan  is  promised  to  Abraham,  the  state  of 
the  inhabitants  at  the  time  is  assigned  as  a  reason  for  de- 
ferring the  fulfilment  of  the  promise  till  the  fourth  gene- 
ration ;  "for,"  says  the  Divine  Speaker,  "the  iniquity  of 
the  Amorites  is  not  yet  full."*  So,  that  most  important 
of  all  events,  the  coming  of  the  Lord  in  the  flesh,  is  con- 
stantly referred  to  "  the  fulness  of  tiie  time;"f  and  it  would 
be  ridiculous  to  suppose  that  the  time  thus  spoken  of  is 
determined  by  any  fore-ordained  number  of  days  and 
years,  independently  of  the  state  into  which  it  was  foreseen 
that  mankind  would,  in  such  a  period,  have  come.  As  for 
the  modifications  which  the  arrangements  for  the  bringing 
into  effect  the  ultimate  divine  purposes, — not  those  pur- 
poses themselves, — receive  from  human  determinations  and 
actions  ;  or  the  manner  in  which  the  Divine  Providence 
adapts  its  proceedings  to  contingencies  which  man  is  al- 
lowed to  determine  ;  the  Scriptures  are  full  of  examples  : 
we  will  mention  but  one  :  Jesus  Christ  says  "  0  Jerusa- 
lem, Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the  prophets  and  stonest 
them  that  are  sent  unto  thee  ;  how  often  would  I  have  ga- 
thered thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her 
chickens  under  her  wings  :  and  ye  Avould  not  !  Behold, 
your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate.":}: 

Now  it  is  evident  from  many  passages  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament, that  the  coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the 

*  G«n.  XV.  16.     t  Gal.  iv.  4,  Eph.  i.  10,  Mark  i.  15.     t  Matt,  xxiii.  37,  SS. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  291 

consequent  raising  up  of  a  church  that  should  look  to  him 
for  salvation,  was  the  purpose  of  God,  even  before  the 
creation  of  the  world.  Paul  declares  that  he  was  commis- 
sioned to  preach  "  to  the  intent  that  now  miglit  be  known 
by  the  church  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God,  according  to 
the  eternal  purpose  which  he  purposed  in  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord  :"*  and  Peter,  speaking  of  Jesus  Christ,  says, 
"  Who  verily  was  fore-ordained  before  the  foundation  of 
the  world,  but  was  manifest  in  these  last  times  for  you."f 
And  it  is  evident  that  the  passages  in  which  Paul  and  Peter 
speak  of  the  election  and  predestination  of  those  to  whom 
they  write,  do  not  allude  to  any  divine  decree  passed  from 
eternity  in  favour  of  them  as  individuals,  but  to  an  eternal 
purpose  to  raise  up  a  church  of  believers  in  the  Word  In- 
carnate ;  and  that  all  who  sincerely  enter  the  church  thus 
eternally  predestined  and  elected,  are  themselves  called  the 
predestinate  and  elect.  Whatever.may  be  the  true  myste- 
ry of  "  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,"  certain  it  is  that  it  was 
•looked  to  from  eternity  as  the  only  means  of  permanently 
effecting  the  union  of  God  with  his  creatures,  on  which 
depends  their  salvation.  But  if,  nevertheless,  before  this 
could  take  place  so  as  to  be  productive  of  its  full  effect,  it 
was  necessary  that  certain  preparations  should  intervene, 
and  even,  as  it  would  appear,  that  the  human  mind  should 
be  allowed  to  descend  into  the  lowest  state  into  which  it 
could  fall  without  degenerating  from  the  human  into  the 
merely  animal  nature  :  then  it  will  be  seen  that  such  a  dis- 
pensation as  that  given  to  the  Jews  was  required  to  fill  up 
the  last  and  darkest  portion  of  the  intermediate  time. 
Doubtless  the  dispensation  of  divine  benefits  under  which 
the  primitive  inhabitants  of  the  world  lived,  even  after  sin 
had  entered,  was  of  a  higher  and  more  interior  nature  than 
any  that  could  be  given  afterwards  :  but  this  became  so 
entirely  corrupted,   that    an  end  was   put   to    the  church 

*  »  Eph.  iii   10,  11.  t  1  Peter  i.  20. 


293  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

which  lived  under  it  by  the  flood.  The  proper  time  and 
suitable  state  being  not  yet  arrived  for  the  coniing  of  the 
Second  Adam,  a  new  dispensation,  evidently  of  a  diiferent 
nature  from  the  former,  and  not  of  so  interior  a  character, 
that  being  no  longer  suited  to  the  more  external  state  into 
which  man  had  descended,  was  given  to  Noah  and  his  pos- 
terity. Mankind  continuing  still  to  fall  lower  and  lower, 
this  dispensation  also  suffered  perversion,  and  from  its 
ruins  arose  all  the  idolatries  of  the  eastern  world.  Still 
the  time  and  state  Iiad  not  arrived  for  tlie  appearance  of 
the  Great  Restorer  ;  wherefore,  mankind  being  disposed 
to  rest  in  the  mere  externals  of  religious  worship,  with  lit- 
tle regard  to  its  essence  in  the  heart  and  mind,  a  dispensa- 
tion was  given,  in  which  the  rituals  of  worship,  being  pre- 
scribed by  divine  wisdom,  and  agreeably  to  the  laws  of 
that  analogy  between  natural  things  and  spiritual  by  which 
divine  essences  descend  into  material  forms,  were  effective 
of  a  communication  between  God  and  man,  sufficient  to 
keep  mankind  in  a  salvable  state,  till  "  the  fulness  of  time" 
should  have  arrived  for  the  appearance  of  God  in  the  flesh. 
Thus  it  appears  that  the  human  mind  passed  through  a 
series  of  successive  changes,  descending  still  lower  and 
lower,  or  becoming  continually  of  a  more  gross  and  exter- 
nal character,  but  still  proceeding  with  the  utmost  regu- 
larity, from  the  creation  of  man  to  the  coming  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  :  and  it  appears  also,  that  the  economy  of 
Divine  Providence,  adapting  itself  to  man's  various  states, 
by  affording  new  dispensations  of  the  divine  will  as  the 
previous  ones  became  perverted,  continued  to  furnish  to 
man,  in  every  state,  the  means  of  salvation.  It  is  also  easy 
to  conceive,  that,  in  the  course  of  these  progressions,  a 
state  might  occur,  which  was  suited  for  the  establishment 
of  such  a  dispensation  as  was  given  to  the  Jews,  and  for  no 
other  :  in  which  case,  it  was  worthy  of  the  Divine  Being 
to  give  such  a  dispensation. 

• 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  293 

But  is  it  objected,  that,  allowing  that  a  period  may  have 
occurred  in  the  history  of  the  human  miiid  in  which  no 
other  dispensation  of  divine  things  than  such  as  was  com- 
municated to  the  Israelites  would  have  been  suited  to  the 
state  of  mankind,  this  does  not  account  for  its  being  con- 
fined to  one  small  nation  ?  that  still  it  was  unjust  to  de- 
prive the  rest  of  the  world  of  its  benefits  ?  It  may  be 
answered,  that  probably  other  nations  enjoyed  advantages 
in  consequence  of  this  arrangement,  which  they  could  not 
have  enjoyed,  had  not  the  Jews  filled  the  station  which 
they  actually  did  in  the  Divine  Economy,  constituting,  for 
a  time,  the  visible  church  of  God  upon  the  earth.  This 
may  sound  like  a  paradox,  yet  perhaps  it  will  not  be  dif- 
ficult to  shew  that  it  is  true. 

All  that  we  know  of  the  Divine  Economy  leads  to  the  con- 
clusion, that  the  existence  of  a  church  on  earth  in  which 
the  true  God  is  known,  and  of  persons  in  that  church  by 
whom  the  true  God  is  worshipped  in  sincerity,  are  neces- 
sary to  the  well-being,  perhaps  to  th€  continuance  in  exist- 
ence of  the  whole  human  race.  Whoever  believes,  as  every 
reasonable  creature  must  believe,  God  to  be  the  sole  foun- 
tain of  life,  will  easily  see  that  if  all  communication  could 
be  cut  off  between  him  and  his  creatures,  the  latter  must 
immediately  fall  into  annihilation.  All  must  likewise  see, 
that  the  communication  between  God  and  his  creatures 
must  be  more  direct,  and  the  life  of  which  he  is  the  source 
must  be  received  in  greater  fulness,  when  just  idea?  are  en- 
tertained of  him,  and  when,  with  corresponding  affections 
of  the  heart,  the  mind  is  turned  toAvards  him  its  proper 
centre  :  may  it  not  then  be  considered  as  highly  probable, 
that  they  wlio  possess  this  just  knowledge  of  him,  and  thus 
receive  in  its  highest  degree  the  life  which  flows  from  him, 
form  channels  by  which  an  adequate  measure  of  it  is  con- 
veyed to  others  ?  that  they  afford  a  chief  connecting  link 
by  which  the  Creator  is  united  to  his  creation  ?  This,  at 
least,  is  conformable  to  the  order  we  see  observetl  in  oilier 


294  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

things.  Look  at  the  human  frame  ;  We  see  in  it  two 
principal  organs, — the  heart  and  the  Kings, — upon  the  ac- 
tion of  which  the  life  of  the  whole  depends  :  They  do  not 
constitute  the  whole  of  the  hody  ;  but  the  whole  of  the 
body  lives  by  its  connexion,  in  all  its  parts,  with  tliem  : 
Thus  they  are  the  media,  by  which  life,  originally  from 
the  Source  of  Life,  actuates  the  corporeal  members.  But 
the  more  immediate  living  principle  in  the  body  is  the 
brain  ;  this  being  the  organ  of  the  soul,  which  lives  in  a 
sphere  nearer  to  the  Deity.  Though  the  action  of  the  heart 
and  lungi^  are  necessary  to  the  life  of  the  other  parts  of  the 
body,  their  action  could  not  continue  a  moment  if  all  the 
nerves  were  separated  which  connect  them  with  the  brain  : 
from  this  they  receive  the  life,  which  they  dispense  through 
the  body.  It  is  true  that  the  brain  also  communicates  im- 
mediately with  all  the  other  parts  of  the  body,  which 
thence  derive  all  their  powers  of  motion  and  sensation  : 
vet  they  only  can  receive  these  from  the  brain  so  long  as 
they  remain  also  in  communication  with  the  Jieart,  sepa- 
rated from  which  they  wither  and  perish.  Now  may  we 
not  say,  that  what  tlie  brain  is  to  the  human  frame,  God  is 
to  the  whole  human  race  ?  He  communicates  with  the 
soul  of  every  individual  on  the  globe,  as  the  brain  com- 
municates with  every  member  and  fibre  in  the  body  ;  but 
may  it  not  be  necessary,  in  order  to  man's  reception,  at 
least,  of  spiritual  life  from  this  communication,  that  there 
be  some  among  the  mass  who  should  be  to  the  rest  what 
the  heart  and  lungs  are  to  the  other  members  ?  Who  can 
these  be,  but  those  who  have  a  genuine  knowledge  of  God 
from  revelation,  and  who  are  thence  capable  of  being  ani- 
mated by  the  purest  affections,  directed  by  the  highest  in- 
telligence ?  May  it  not  then  be  reasonably  presumed,  that 
the  existence  of  a  church  in  the  world,  favoured  with  the 
light  of  revelation,  is  necessary  to  the  well-being  of  the 
whole  human  race  ?  And  this  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  evi- 
dently inculcates,  when  he  says  to  his  disciples,  "  Ye  are 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  295 

the  salt    of  the  earth,"  and    "  Ye   are   the   light  of  the 
world."* 

But  although  it  is  necessary  to  the  welfare  of  mankind 
that  God  should  have  a  church  on  the  earth  in  which  he 
is  known  by  revelation  ;  and  although  it  is  a  high  privilege 
to  belong  to  it  ;  it  may  not  be  necessary  that  all  mankind 
should  be  admitted  to  that  privilege,  any  more  than  it  is 
necessary  that  the  body  should  be  all  heart.  If  a  church 
exists  any  where,  all  mankind  are  benefited  through  it  in 
a  secret  manner  :  a  union  is  thus  maintained  between  the 
world  and  its  Maker,  of  which  all  the  human  race  enjoy 
the  advantages  :  but  it  may  not  be  necessary  that  they 
should  all  be  stationed  in  the  direct  channel  of  communi- 
cation. It  does  indeed  appear  to  be  predicted  in  Scripture, 
that  a  time  shall  come  in  which  the  knowledge  of  God  by 
means  of  his  Word  will  become  general  throughout  the 
earth  :  yet  it  cannot  be  expected  that  its  influence  will  ever 
become  every  where  the  same  :  there  will  ahvays  be  a 
centre  in  which  its  truths  will  be  more  clearly  understood, 
and  the  life  to  which  they  lead  more  eminently  cultivat- 
ed ;  and  this  centre  will  be  as  a  heart  to  the  rest.  Future 
ages  are  no  doubt  destined  to  behold  a  great  amelioration 
of  the  human  race  :  but  none  suppose  tliat  the  highest 
point  at  present  attained  is  to  remain  immovable  till  all 
mankind  have  arrived  at  it  :  the  amelioration  then  will 
be  effected  by  a  proportionate  elevation  of  the  whole. 
The  portion  of  mankind  who  are  the  subjects  of  that 
true  civilization,  with  its  accorapaniuients,  moral  and 
scientific,  which  is  the  result  of  religion  derived  imme- 
diately from  revelation,  may  be  compared  to  a  pyramid, 
of  which  those  which  are  in  the  highest  light  constitute 
the  apex  :  now  the  sphere  of  human  improvement  derived 
from  this  source  may  go  on  extending,  till  it  has  reached 
the  darkest  corners  of  the  earth  :  but  it  will  always  retain 

*  Matt.  V.  13,  14. 


296  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

its  pyramidal  form  ;  and  the  wider  tlie  base,  the  higher 
will  be  the  summit.  But  if  such  is  to  be  the  state  of  the 
human  race  when  "  the  eternal  purpose"  of  God  shall 
have  had  its  full  effect,  and  under  a  dispensation  which 
brings  real  advantages  to  all  who  become  its  subjects,  very 
different  must  have  been  the  case  during  the  times  which 
"  God  winked  at,"*  or  when  the  human  race  at  large  was 
in  its  lowest  state  of  decline,  and  under  a  dispensation 
which  conferred  little  superiority  on  those  to  whom  it 
was  given.  A  church  in  which  God  was  known  by  reve- 
lation, to  form  in  a  manner  the  heart  of  the  world,  was 
then  also  necessary  :  but  it  was  not  necessary,  to  its  acting 
in  that  capacity,  that  its  members  should  be  numerous. 
To  carry  on  the  simile  :  in  the  human  frame,  a  strong  ac- 
tion of  the  heart  is  indispensable  to  high  health  and  supe- 
rior vigour,  and  perhaps  the  general  powers  are  all  exalted 
by  the  increase  of  its  energy,  so  long  as  the  energy  of  the 
brain  keeps  pace  with  and  controls  it  ;  but  a  very  weak 
and  languid  action  is  sufficient  to  the  mere  continuance  of 
life  :  applied  to  the  moral  frame  of  the  world,  the  former 
state  is  that  which  the  Divine  Benevolence  aims  eventually 
at  producing  ;  the  latter  was  all  that,  at  the  time  when 
the  Jewish  Church  existed,  the  state  of  mankind  admitted. 
If  it  is  true,  according  to  the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures, 
that  the  Lord's  disciples,  or  the  members  of  his  Church, 
are  "  the  salt  of  the  earth,"  it  also  appears  to  be  true,  from 
the  same  authority,  that  even  the  existence  of  a  small 
quantity  of  this  salt  is  sufficient  for  the  preservation  of  the 
mass  :  thus,  could  ten  real  servants  of  the  Lord  have  been 
found  in  Sodom,  it  would  have  been  preserved  :  and,  to 
reverse  the  mode  of  statement,  the  destruction  of  the  king- 
dom of  Israel  would  have  taken  place  in  the  days  of  Eli- 
jah, had  not  seven  thousand  still  been  left  who  had  not 
bowed  their  knee^  to  Baal.f 

*  Arts  x\]\.  30  t  GfTi.  xviii.  32, 1  Kings  xix.  17,  18. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  297 

It  seems  then  a  just  conclusion,  that  so  long  as  a  church 
is  nKiiiitained  on  earth  in  which  the  true  God  is  known  by 
revelation,  the  gentiles  also  partake  of  the  benefit,  and  are 
kept  in  a  salvable  state  ;  and  that  this  benefit  results, 
whether  the  persons  immediately  constituting  the  Church 
be  many  or  few.  Thus  this  benefit  was  secured,  even  by 
the  establishment  of  the  Church  in  one  nation,  and  that  so 
small  a  nation  as  was  constituted  by  tlie  Israelites.  And 
if,  as  may  rationally  be  inferred,  the  state  of  mankind  at 
that  time  was  such  as  did  not  admit  of  a  higher  dispensa- 
tion than  one  which  consisted  chiefly  in  representative 
rites,  it  may  easily  be  conceived,  that  the  advantage  of 
being  its  subjects  was  so  slight,  that  no  injustice  was  done 
to  those  who  were  not  admitted  to  the  privilege. 

(2.)  But  if  it  appears,  from  the  views  just  developed, 
that  the  calling  of  the  Israelites  was  a  measure  of  Divine 
Goodness,  designed  more  for  the  general  benefit  of  man- 
kind than  for  their  own  private  advantage  ;  still  more  will 
this  be  seen  when  their  selection  is  regarded  as  furnishing 
the  means  by  which  the  Holy  Word  might  be  written  in 
the  form  in  which  we  now  possess  it  ;  being  that  which  is 
best  adapted  to  render  permanent  the  blessings  of  divine 
revelation,  to  make  them  most  extensive,  and  to  secure 
them  from  perversion.  In  this  point  of  view  we  are  also 
to  consider  it. 

It  was  shewn  in  our  last  Lecture,  that  a  Revelation  from 
God  to  man, — a  communication  of  Divine  Wisdom  in  a 
form  adapted  to  human  apprehension, — must  be  produced 
by  a  sphere  or  emanation  of  Divine  Truth  flowing  forth 
from  God,  passing  through  the  angelic  and  spiritual  into 
the  material  world,  and  there  presenting  itself  in  natural 
language  ;  and  that  its  language  must  consist  of  images 
taken  from  the  objects  that  appear  in  nature,  and  from  the 
common  modes  of  thinking  and  acting  of  tlic  beings  whom 
there  it  found.*     AVe  have  seen  also,  that   there  not   only 


*  P.  ICO. 

3^ 


298  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

is  a  perfect  analogy  between  all  the  lower  parts  and  infe- 
rior objects  of  nature,  and  certain  moral,  intellectual,  and 
divine  essences  ;  but,  likewise,  between  all  that  belongs  to 
man  as  an  inhabitant  of  a  natural  world,  and  what  belongs 
to  or  concerns  him  as  the  heir  of  a  spiritual  one  :  and 
hence  we  have  observed,  that  the  analogical  language  of 
the  Word  of  God  is  not  confined  to  the  mention  of  the 
irrational  and  inanimate  parts  of  nature,  but  admits  all  that 
arises  out  of  man's  inclinations  and  feelings  as  an  animal 
and  naturally  rational  being,  and  as  a  member  of  civil  so- 
ciety ;  because  all  this  answers,  by  a  decided  mutual  rela- 
tion, to  that  which  belongs  to  his  spiritual  affections  and 
feelings,  as  an  immortal  and  spiritually  rational  being, 
designed  to  become  a  member  of  angelic  society.*  If  this 
be  true,  (and  surely  no  plausible  objection  can  be  raised 
against  it  !)  it  follows  that  a  Revelation  from  God,  follow- 
ing the  laws  of  the  Analogy  between  natural  things  and 
spiritual,  cannot  be  given,  which  does  not  treat  much,  in 
its  letter,  of  human  beings  and  of  human  actions.  If  all 
the  objects  of  nature  answer  by  regular  analogy  to  spirit- 
ual things,  most  of  all  must  man,  the  principal  being  in 
nature,  and  his  actions  as  a  member  of  civil  society.  Of 
man,  then,  and  his  actions,  a  composition  really  given  by 
divine  inspiration  must  extensively  treat  in  its  letter.  But 
of  what  persons  and  actions  could  it  thus  treat  ?  Evident- 
ly, they  must  either  be  purely  allegorical  ones, — that  is, 
such  persons  as  never  really  existed,  and  such  actions  as 
never  were  actually  performed, — or  they  must  be  repre- 
sentative ones, — real  persons  invested  by  divine  appoint- 
ment with  a  representative  character,  and  whose  actions 
(such  of  them  at  least  as  the  sacred  history  records)  were 
so  overruled  as  to  bear  a  representative  signification. 
Probably,  either  mode  might  serve  adequately  to  convey 
the  divine  and  spiritual  things  which  divine  revelation  is 

»  P.  W2. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  299 

designed  to  communicate  :  but  it  is  easy  to  see  that  this 
would  be  accomplislied  much  more  fully  by  the  latter 
method  than  by  the  former.  If  the  Bible-liistory  had 
been  a  pure  allegory  throughout,  destitute  of  a  foundation 
in  actual  ocurrences,  it  would  long  ago  have  been  rejected 
as  a  mere  fable.  Men  who  had  a  knowledge  of  the  science 
of  Analogies,  as  was  the  case  in  times  of  very  remote  anti- 
quity, might  have  been  equally  benefited  by  a  revelation 
in  the  style  of  pure  allegory  as  by  one  in  the  garb  of  true 
but  representative  history  ;  and  accordingly,  to  compose 
such  allegories  was,  in  those  distant  ages,  a  customary 
mode,  perhaps  the  only  one,  of  imparting  instruction  : 
but  when  the  key  for  the  decyphering  of  such  composi- 
tions was  lost  ;  when  the  human  mind  had  become  of  so 
gross  a  character  as  scarcely  to  regard  any  thing  as  real 
beyond  the  objects  of  sense  ;  had  no  divine  revelation 
been  extant  but  a  purely  allegorical  one,  it  would  soon 
have  been  entirely  neglected  and  have  fallen  into  oblivion. 
The  spiritual  sense  being  unknown  and  the  literal  sense 
perceived  to  be  unreal,  the  whole  would  have  been  deem- 
ed unworthy  of  attention.  To  obviate  this  mischief, 
means  were  provided  by  Divine  Providence,  for  uniting 
the  advantages  of  pure  allegory  witli  those  of  true  history. 
In  the  darkest  night  of  human  degeneracy,  when  man  was 
incapable  of  any  direct  perception  of  heavenly  things,  and 
wholly  immersed  in  the  carnal  part  of  his  nature.  Divine 
Goodness,  by  selecting  a  nation  which  was  more  entirely 
of  this  character  than  any  other, — "  a  stiff-necked  people," 
— to  represent  those  things  which  they  were  incapable  of 
interiorly  perceiving  and  feeling,  brought  divine  subjects 
into  their  most  extreme  and  lowest  natural  form.  By 
causing  the  Holy  Word  to  be  written  at  this  time,  and  to 
treat  in  its  literal  sense  of  the  transactions  of  this  people, 
its  Divine  Author  gave  to  the  revelation  of  divine  things  a 
fixity  of  character,  of  whicli  it  could  not  otherwise  have 
been  made  susceptible  :  he  laid  for  it  a  foundation  in  the 


300  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

lowest  possible  base,  as  the  means  of  rendering  it  the  most 
securely  permanent.  He  thus  conjoined  even  nature  in  its 
extreme  circumference  and  uttermost  boundary  with  him- 
self, and  provided  the  means  of  extending  divine  instruc- 
tion to  the  most  debased  of  mankind.  A  revelation  thus 
circumstanced  acquired  external  evidence  in  addition  to 
the  internal.  The  Jews  are  to  this  day  witnesses  to  us  of 
the  truth  of  the  leading  facts  of  the  Scripture  history,  and 
of  the  belief  of  their  ancestors,  that  it  was  given  by  inspi- 
ration. Thus,  even  though  the  deep  wisdom  which  the 
Divine  Word  inwardly  contains  has  been  unknown,  it  has 
generally  been  received  as  of  divine  origin  :  it  has  been 
reverenced  as  holy  ;  and  hence  the  important  truths  which 
are  in  many  places  extant  in  the  letter  have  been  piessed 
with  authority  upon  the  mind  and  heart.  It  doubtless, 
also,  is  true,  that  whilst  even  the  bare  historical  circum- 
stances are  read  with  an  acknowledgment  of  the  divine 
origin  of  the  record,  the  mind  is  disposed  to  a  holy  frame, 
which  is  a  plane  for  the  insemination  of  spiritual  graces  ; 
as  the  performance  of  the  representative  worship  of  the 
Jews  had  a  similar  effect  on  tlie  well-disposed  among  that 
people. 

This  then  was  the  main  object  of  tlie  calling  of  the  in- 
dividual nation  of  the  Israelites,  and  of  making  tliem  the 
subjects  and  depositaries  of  divine  communications.  This 
singular  people  was  in  fact  selected,  to  exhibit,  in  a  sensi- 
ble manner,  for  the  instruction  of  all  tlie  generations  of 
men  that  may  ever  exist  on  this  globe,  the  consequences 
with  which  both  the  obedience  and  disobedience  of  tlie 
divine  laws  are  necessarily  attended  ;  and  at  the  same  time 
to  picture,  with  the  utmost  exactness,  all  the  changes  of 
state  that  the  church  at  large,  or  its  individual  epitome, 
man,  can  ever  experience.  That  people  in  particular  was 
selected  for  this  purpose,  not  because  they  were  themselves 
at  all  more  the  objects  of  divine  favour  than  any  other 
nation,  but  because  their  genius  and  temper  were  such,  that 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &,C.  301 

they  were  more  capable  than  any  other  people  of  being  made 
the  mediums  of  representing,  under  external  symbols  and 
natural  occurrences,  all  tlie  things  and  subjects  which  Di- 
vine Wisdom  desires  to  reveal  to  man. 

The  disposition  of  the  Jews  to  midtiply  ceremonial  ob- 
servances beyond  what  was  required  of  them,  and  to  sub- 
stitute these  for  the  morals  enjoined  by  the  law  of  God,  is 
noticed  in  the  gospel  :  "  The  Pharisees,  and  all  the  Jews, 
except  they  wash  their  hands  oft,  eat  not,  holding  the  tra- 
dition of  the  elders  :  and  when  they  come  from  the  marlcet, 
except  they  wash,  they  eat  not  :  and  many  other  things 
there  be  which  they  have  received  to  hold,  as  the  washing 
of  cups  and  pots,  brazen  vessels,  and  of  tables. — Laying 
aside  the  commandment  of  God,  ye  hold  the  tradition  of 
men,  as  the  washing  of  pots  and  cups  :  and  many  other 
such  like  things  ye  do."*  So,  whoever  has  looked  into 
the  works  Avhich  describe  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
Jews,  or  into  the  writings  of  the  Rabbins,  must  have  been 
struck  with  the  tendency  to  minute  observances,  even  re- 
garding things  the  most  indifferent  and  insignificant,  which 
they  every  where  exhibit  :  he  must  also  have  been  surprised 
at  the  subtlety  with  which  tliey  discover,  even  in  '•  the 
weightier  matters  of  the  law,"  some  fancied  precept  for 
some  outward  observance,  and  the  dexterity  with  which 
they  substitute  the  latter  for  the  former. f  It  is  evident, 
also,  that  they  have  partaken  of  this  character  ever  since 
they  were  a  people,  and  that  this  gave  occasion  to  some  of 
the  rites  with  which  the  dispensation,  of  which  they  were 
the  subjects,  was  loaded.  "  I  sj)ake  not  unto  your  fathers," 
says  the  Lord  l>y  the  propliet,  "  nor  commanded  them,  in 
the  day  tliat  I  brought  them  out  of  tlie  land  of  Egypt, 
concerninor  burnt-offerinjis  and  sacrifices  :  but  this  thing  I 
commanded  them,  saying.    Obey  my  voice,   and  I  will  be 

*  IMnrk  vii.  3,  4,  8. 

I  For  full  proof  of  this  iissprtion,    nnd  n)r   some  reniarkiibli;  illiistriitions  of 
tlie  Jijvvisli  ( Imraclcr,  see  Ajiiicii'li.x.  Ps'o.  V. 


302  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

your  God,  and  ye  shall  be  my  people,  and  walk  ye  in  all 
the  ways  that  I  have  commanded  you  :  But  they  hearkened 
not,"*  &c.  So,  in  reference  to  their  conduct  in  the  wil- 
derness, the  Lord  says  by  another  prophet,  "  Because  they 
had  not  executed  my  judgments,  but  had  despised  my  sta- 
tutes, and  had  polluted  my  sabbaths,  and  their  eyes  were 
after  their  fathers'  idols  :" — which  words  clearly  imply 
tliat  they  did  not  regard  the  interior  things  of  religion, 
but  were  idolaters  at  heart  ;  "  Avherefore,"  it  is  added,  "  I 
gave  them  also  statutes  that  were  not  good,  and  judgments 
whereby  they  should  not  live  ;"f  referring  to  the  ceremo- 
nial observances,  which  have  no  sanctifying  efficacy  of 
themselves,  being  representative  types,  only,  of  holy  things* 
but  not  identical  with  them. 

Now  this  disposition  of  that  people  to  neglect  essentials 
and  to  cleave  to  formalities,  if  it  disqualified  them  from 
constituting  an  interior  church  themselves,  eminently 
adapted  them  to  be  made  the  representatives  of  such  a 
church,  and  to  have  their  affairs  overruled,  so  as  to  be  sub- 
servient to  such  representation.  Nor  is  there  any  room  to 
object,  that  such  control  was  incompatible  with  their  free 
agency  and  moral  responsibility,  when  this  their  gross 
temper  and  superficial  disposition  is  regarded.  The  ac- 
tions of  the  Jews  would  no  doubt  have  been  of  the  same 
general  character  as  they  were,  had  they  not  been  subject- 
ed to  such  a  controlling  influence  as  we  are  supposing  ; 
for  they  were,  in  fact,  very  similar  to  those  of  other  half- 
civilized  nations  and  tribes  :  and  how  easy  must  it  be  to 
the  Divine  Providence,  working  as  it  were  upon  the  general 
tendencies  of  men  of  this  description,  as  upon  materials 
prepared  to  its  hands,  to  give  such  a  direction  to  the  speci- 
fic actions  resulting  from  those  tendencies,  as  was  necessary 
to  induce  on  them  the  form  which  its  purposes  required  ! 
Under   any  circumstances,   the   persons    mentioned  in  the 

*  Jer.  vii.  •>:.',  23,  ^>1.  i  Eztk.  xx.  21,  'J.'). 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &,C.  803 

Bible  as  doing  good  or  bad  actions,  would  have  done  good 
and  bad  actions  :  the  exact  form,  only,  of  the  actions,  being 
the  result  of  the  circumstances  in  which  they  were  placed. 
It  is  common  with  philosophical  minds  to  amusC  them- 
selves with  thinking,  how  certain  individuals  would  have 
acted  under  certain  circumstances  :  but  few  suppos^e  that 
different  circumstances  wovdd  have  changed  their  cliarac- 
ter  altogether,  though  they  would  have  differently  modi- 
fied its  developements.  There  is  then  no  difficulty  in  con- 
ceiving hoAV  the  Divine  Providence  could  overrule  the  ac- 
tions  of  a  small  nation,  such  as  we  are  describing,  but 
more  particularly  of  certain  individuals  in  it,  so  as  to  ren- 
der them  exactly  representative  of  the  subjects  which  form 
the  proper  matter  of  a  divine  revelation,  without  affecting 
their  inward  states  of  mind  as  free  and  accountable  agents. 
All  that  was  necessary  to  adapt  the  people  for  being  thus 
acted  on,  was,  the  negative  quality  of  not  being  themselves 
inwardly  principled  in  the  divine  and  spiritual  things 
which  they  were  made  the  mediums  of  representing  ;  for 
then  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  separate  their  re- 
presentative from  their  proper  character,  and  none  could 
have  sustained  a  holy  representation  without  being  holy 
himself:  and  as  in  forming  his  proper  cliaracter  man  is  left 
to  his  own  freedom,  it  \rould  thus  have  been  impossible 
that  a  series  of  representative  persons  could  have  been  pro- 
vided. But  this  was  easy  with  a  people  disj^osed  to  rest 
entirely  in  externals  :  with  such,  the  external  could  be  so 
separated  from  the  internal,  that  the  vilest  persons  might 
be  made  to  represent  the  most  holy  things:  and  so  entirely 
were  the  Israelites  of  this  character,  that  even  the  great 
truth,  that  man  lives  after  death,  was  not  to  them  openly 
revealed,  and  the  rewards  of  obedience  and  punishments 
of  disobedience  proposed  to  them  were  all  such  as  were  to 
be  experienced  in  this  life  only.*     To  have,  in  our  actions, 

*  For  suiiiiiiarics  oftlie  \\  liolf.  -tec  Lev.  x\\'\.  unA  Dout.  x.w  iii. 


304  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

a  view  to  the  life  hereafter,  opens  and  spiritualizes  the 
mind  ;  to  have  no  view  but  to  the  life  here,  closes  and  ma- 
terializes it  :  the  nature  of  the  Jewish  mind,  then,  may  ea- 
sily be  estimated,  by  the  nature  of  the  motives  proposed  to 
them,  which,  we  may  be  sure,  were  the  highest  that  they 
were  able  to  appreciate  :  and  external  motives,  though  not 
such  as  will  introduce  into  the  mind  heavenly  graces,  are 
best  adapted  to  induce  such  conduct  as  will  represent  them. 

Such  then  is  the  character  of  the  whole  of  the  Israelitish 
history,  as  recorded  in  the  Scriptures.  From  one  end  to  the 
other,  it  is  representative  and  typical  of  spiritual  things  ; 
the  affi\irs  of  that  people  liaving  been  constantly  overruled 
by  Divine  Providence  for  this  purpose.  Their  history 
may  in  fact  be  considered  as  a  grand  divine  drama,  the 
first  scene  of  which  commences  with  the  calling  of  Abra- 
ham, and  the  last  concludes  with  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem by  the  Romans.  All  their  patriarchs  and  kings, 
priests  and  prophets,  and  indeed  the  whole  people,  were 
the  actors  in  this  wonderful  drama  ;  and  the  characters 
represented  were  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  to  all  that  he 
performed  and  suffered  for  the  redemption  of  mankind, 
and  all  the  states  through  which  he  passed  to  union  with 
the  Father  ; — his  Church  in  all  the  steps  of  her  progress 
from  carnal  to  celestial;  and  the  individual  member  of  the 
church  through  all  the  stages  of  his  corresponding  ad- 
vancement: and  every  thing  which  creates  opposition  is  at 
the  same  time  shewn, — the  obstacles  to  be  overcome,  and 
the  lapses  to  be  dreaded,  as  well  as  the  blessings  to  be  ob- 
tained. 

This  certainlv  is  a  view  of  the  design  of  the  selection  of 
the  Israelites  as  a  peculiar  people,  which  fully  exonerates 
the  Father  of  the  universe  from  the  charge  of  partiality 
towards  one  family  of  his  creatures  over  the  rest,  and  truly 
shews  that  they  were  not  chosen  for  their  own  sakes,  but 
that,  as  was  promised  to  Abraham,  through  them  all  the 
families  of  the  earth  might  be  blessed  ;  a  promise  which 


THF.    SCRIPTURES    A?SERTF.D,    &iC.  305 

indeed  refers,  primnrily,  to  the  birth  of  tlie  Word  Incar- 
nate among  that  nation,  but  which  is  also  applicable  to  the 
gift  of  the  written  Word  communicated  by  their  means. 
This  view  of  the  subject  furnislies,  in  addition,  a  complete 
answer  to  the  objection  which  demands,  "  If  the  Jews  were 
really  chosen  of  God,  in  preference  to  all  other  people,  how 
comes  it  to  pass  that  they  were  not  better  than  all  other 
people  ?"  since,  if  they  were  not  chosen  to  form  a  real  in- 
ternal church,  composed  of  heavenly-minded  worshippers 
of  God,  but  only  to  represent  a  church  of  such  worshippers, 
then  individual  sanctity  was  not  particularly  to  be  looked 
for  among  them,  and  their  private  characters  had  no  more 
necessary  connexion  with  the  things  represented  by  them, 
than  has  the  private  character  of  an  actor  on  the  stage  with 
that  of  the  prince  or  hero  whom  he  personifies.  In  short, 
every  objection  which  can  be  raised  against  the  calling  of 
the  Israelites,  and  against  the  divine  inspiration  of  their 
history,  is  entirely  removed  by  this  view  of  the  subject,  as 
will  be  further  seen  in  our  next  Lecture  :  and  perhaps  I 
may  be  allowed  to  express  my  own  convictions  by  saying, 
that  certain  I  am,  that  whoever  will  candidly  itudy  the 
Jev.'ish  character  and  history,  both  as  recorded  in  the 
Scriptures  and  as  presented  in  the  writings  of  their  Rab- 
bins, will  find  ample  reason  to  conclude  that  this  view  is 
the  true  bne.  The  Mosaic  dispensation  was  given,  as  the 
Apostle  affirms,  "  because  of  transgressions  ;"* — because 
such  was  the  gross  character  of  that  people,  and,  indeed, 
such  was  the  state  of  the  whole  of  mankind  in  those  ages, 
before  the  work  of  redemption  was  accomj>lished,  that  a 
dispensation  in  which  spiritual  things  were  oj)enly  reveal- 
ed could  not  have  been  received,  or  would  have  been  im- 
mediately profaned:  and  it  was  given,  as  is  declared  in  the 
same  place,  "  till  the  seed  should  come  to  whom  the  pro- 
mise was  made  ;"  that  is,  as  had  been  explained  before,  to 

*    Cal.  iii.  1!». 

39 


806  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

fill  up  the  intermediate  period  till  the  coming  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  who  was  to  found  a  spiritual  dispensation. 
And  not  merely  a  transient,  but  a  permanent  benefit  was 
conferred  on  mankind  by  these  means.  The  dispensation 
given  to  the  Israelites  was  full  of  "  patterns  (or  types)  of 
things  in  the  heavens  ;"*  which  are  replete  with  the  sub- 
limest  instruction  when  their  antitypes  are  understood  : 
and  the  very  history  of  the  people  who  were  the  subjects 
of  this  representative  dispensation  became  representative 
too,  depicting  to  the  enlightened  observer  every  thing  that 
can  be  experienced  in  the  spiritual  life.  This  also  the 
Apostle  teaches  :  "  All  these  things  happened  unto  them 
for  ensamples  ;  and  they  are  written  for  our  admonition, 
upon  whom  the  ends  of  the  world  are  come."f  We  have 
seen  before,  that  all  who  accept  the  Scriptvires  at  all,  are 
constrained  to  allow  a  great  number  of  their  historical  re- 
lations to  have  a  typical,  representative,  and  spiritual 
meaning  :  we  have  seen  also,  that  if  we  allow  the  Word 
of  God  to  have  a  spiritual  sense  in  some  parts,  we  must,  to 
make  it  consistent  with  itself,  allow  the  same  in  all  :  and 
the  view  now  presented  shews  how  this  may  be  the  case  in 
the  divine  narrations,  consistently  with  the  reality  of  the 
historical  events,  agreeably  with  the  attributes  belonging 
both  to  the  nature  of  God  and  the  nature  of  man,  and  in 
accordance  with  the  laws  of  that  Analogy  which  must  al- 
ways govern  the  connexion  between  natural  things  and 
spiritual,  between  the  world  and  its  Maker,  and  between 
the  literal  expression  and  divine  import  of  every  composi- 
tion which  has  God  for  its  Author. 

III.  Having  presented  these  views  of  the  true  nature  of 
the  Scripture  history,  we  are  now  to  offer  a  few  examples 
of  the  applicability  of  the  Science  of  Analogies  to  its  in- 
terpretation. 

»  Heh.ix.  23.  f  1  Cor.  i.  11. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  307 

1.  The  first  instance  which  we  select  is  that  of  the  mi- 
raculous capture  of  Jericho,  on  the  entrance  of  the  Israel- 
ites into  the  promised  land. 

(1.)  Among  the  objections  which  have  been  raised 
against  the  Scriptures  as  containing  a  revelation  from 
God,  and  against  the  idea  that  the  Jews  were,  in  any  man- 
ner, the  elect  people  of  God,  none  has  been  more  insisted 
upon  than  that  drawn  from  the  extermination  by  them  of 
the  Canaanites,  executed,  as  it  would  appear,  by  the  ex- 
press command  of  God.  This  has  been  held  up  to  execra- 
tion, by  the  Deists,  in  the  strongest  terms,  as  a  measure  of 
the  most  enormous  cruelty  and  most  indefensible  injustice  : 
it  was  a  measure,  they  affirm,  which  a  God  deserving  of 
reverence  could  never  authorize,  and  a  people  entitled  to 
esteem  could  never  execute.     But  great  as  is  the  clamour 

'  which  has  been  raised  against  this  part  of  the  Bible  histo- 
ry, there  is  no  part  of  it  which  has  been  defended  by  the 
Christian  advocates  with  more  powerful  arguments  :  their 
success,  indeed,  in  most  respects,  has  here  been  quite  tri- 
umphant. As  they  have  shewn,  if  vice  ever  deserves  pun- 
ishment, then  most  justly  Avas  punishment  inflicted  on  the 
Canaanites.  If  the  infliction  of  punishment  can  ever  be  a 
measure  of  mercy,  then  was  mercy  displayed  in  the  extir- 
pation of  that  race  :  for  if  the  contagion   of  vice  is  more 

.  deadly  in  its  results  than  the  contagion  of  disease  ;  and  if, 
to  arrest  the  latter,  it  is  a  beneficent  act  to  interdict  all 
communication  between  an  infected  city  and  the  surround- 
ing country,  though  the  consequence  may  be  the  death  of 
most  of  its  inhabitants  ;  then  was  it  an  act  of  goodness,  on 
the  part  of  the  Supreme  Disposer,  entirely  to  cut  off"  a  na- 
tion which  set  examples  of  the  most  flagitious  criminality 
to  all  around,  and  all  whose  posterity  (surely  we  may 
allow  Divine  Omniscience  to  know  this  !)  would  only 
have  grown  up  to  add  inhabitants  to  the  kingdom  of  dark- 
ness. Supposing,  too,  that  any  who  were  less  criminal 
suffered  ;  it  is  to  be  recollected,  that,  if  a  man  is  immor- 


308  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

tal,  the  death  of  the  body  is  by  no  means  the  greatest 
calamity  which  can  befal  him  :  it  is  even  reasonable  to  be- 
lieve, what  the  Scriptures  intimate,  that  death  is  often  a 
kind  dispensation  ;  that,  among  the  wicked,  they  are  some- 
times removed  "  in  whom  there  is  found  some  good  thing 
towards  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,"^  and  that  "  the  righteous 
is  taken  away  from  the  evil  to  come."f  It  were  as  rea- 
sonable then  to  blaspheme  tlie  Divine  Power  which  suffer- 
ed Herculaneum  to  be  overflowed  with  burning  lava,  Lis- 
bon to  be  swallowed  up  by  an  earthquake,  and  the  Caribs 
and  other  nations  of  the  West  Indies  to  be  exterminated 
by  the  Spaniards  ;  and  which  permits  thousands  of  per- 
sons to  be  annually  destroyed  in  Barbary  and  Turkey  by 
the  plague,  and  a  third  part,  oi*  more,  of  the  human  race 
to  perish  in  infancy  ;  as  to  revile  the  Divine  Word  in 
which  is  recorded  the  destruction  of  the  Canaanites  by  the 
sword  of  the  children  of  Israel.  Christian  advocates  ad- 
mit, and  have  convincingly  shewn,  that  there  is  here  an 
analogy  between  the  AVord  of  God  and  his  works  :  and  if 
we  would  deny  the  God  of  Scripture  for  sanctioning  the 
extirpation  of  a  most  abandoned  nation,  (who,  however, 
were  by  no  means  completely  extirpated,  after  all,)  we 
must  deny  the  God  of  nature  for  permitting  such  multi- 
tudes, not  only  of  the  wicked  but  of  the  good,  to  perish 
by  war  and  murder,  by  shipwreck  and  famine,  by  the 
convulsions  of  nature  and  the  visitations  of  disease. 

But  though  it  is  perfectly  easy  to  vindicate  the  Divine 
Justice  in  the  destruction  of  the  Cannaanites,  whether 
effected  by  the  sword  or  by  any  other  means,  some  diffi- 
culty, certainly,  still  attends  the  tran^action,  Avhile  the 
nation  to  which  the  execution  of  it  was  committed  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  a  nation  of  saints.  The  extirpation  of 
the  wicked,  when  their  wickedness  has  arrived  at  its  sum- 
mit, may  be  a  measure  of  necessity  :  but  I  apprehend  that 

*  I  Kinirs  xiv.  13.  f  Isa.  Ivii.  1. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  309 

men  whose  minds  are  imbued  with  real  religion, — whose 
hearts  are  modelled  by  the  spirit  which  says,  "  Love  your 
enemies  ;  bless  them  that  curse  you  ;  do  good  to  them 
that  hate  you  ;  and  pray  for  thcrit-ivitich  despitefully  use 
you  and  persecute  you  ;"*  would  revolt  from  a  task  of  un- 
relenting slaughter.  How  much  better,  then,  are  the  diffi- 
culties of  this  transaction  solved,  by  the  view  of  the  cha- 
racter of  the  Jewish  nation,  and  of  the  design  of  their 
election,  which  has  been  given  above  ! 

So  again,  though  the  justice  of  the  measure  of  extirpat- 
ing the  Canaanites  is  easily  vindicated,  yet  some  difficulty 
still  attaches  to  it  while  it  is  regarded  as  flowing  from  the 
pure  icill  of  God,  and  the  executioners  are  suj)j)osed  to 
have  been  the  peculiar  objects  of  his  favour.  The  true 
character  of  the  objects  of  divine  favour,  and  that  of  their 
God,  are  brought  openly  to  light  in  the  Gospel  ;  and 
there,  if  we  learn  that  the  disciples  of  pure  religion  are 
"  to  love  their  enemies,  to  bless  them  that  curse  tfiem,  to 
do  good  to  them  that  hate  them,  and  to  pray  for  them 
who  despitefully  use  and  persecute  them  ;"  we  learn  also, 
that  they  are  to  do  this,  "  that  they  may  be  the  cliildren 
of  their  Father  which  is  in  heaven  ;  for  he  maketh  his  sun 
to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the 
just  and  on  the  unjust. "|  The  testimony  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, when  it  describes  the  divine  character  as  it  is  in 
itself,  not,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  as  it  appears  to  the  aj)- 
prehension  of  gross  and  wicked  minds,  is  to  the  same  effect  : 
"  As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord,  I  have  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of 
the  wicked  ;"|  "  He  doth  not  afflict  willingly,  nor  grieve 
tiie  children  of  men."§  Accordingly,  it  is  never  supposed 
that  the  pains  of  the  wicked  in  hell  will  be  inflicted  by 
angels  of  light,  but  by  spirits  of  darkness  :  certainly,  no- 
thing that  requires  spirits  of  darkness  for  its  actors,  how- 
ever indispenirable  in  the  Divine  Economy,   can   be  posi- 

*  Matt.  V.  44.         i  Matt.  v.  45.         t  Ezek.  .wxiii.  IJ.         §  Lam.  iii.  33. 


310  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

lively  agreeable  to  tlie  Fountain  of  Good  :  of  course,  nei- 
ther could  the  Israelites,  when  destroying  wicked  nations, 
and  thus  doing  the  work  of  the  spirits  of  darkness,  be 
absolutely  the  objects  of  divine  approbation.  All  suffer- 
ing, even  when  inflicted  as  the  punishment  of  evil,  must 
then  be  of  divine  permission,  not  directly  of  divine  will. 
What  the  Divine  Being  wills  in  it,  must  be,  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  good,  and  restraint  upon  the  perpetration  of 
evil  :  and  as  these  objects  cannot  be  accomplished  without 
the  infliction  of  punishment  upon  the  wicked,  this  is  per- 
mitted, as  a  matter  of  neces'sity,  though  not  of  itself  pleas- 
ing to  the  Divine  Nature.  This  view,  founded  upon  the 
plainest  Scripture  authority,  is  surely  as  liberal  as  any  can 
desire,  except  those  who  would  confound  all  distinctions  of 
right  and  v/rong,  and  would  rather  have  happiness  attach- 
ed as  a  reward  to  evil  than  to  good. 

But  is  it  asked.  How  can  these  ideas  be  reconciled  with 
the  commands  so  positively  laid  upon  the  Israelites  to  de- 
stroy the  Canaanites,  and  enforced  by  threats  of  punish- 
ment on  themselves  if  tliey  omitted  it  ?  The  view  which 
has  been  given  above,  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Divine 
Truth,  emanating  from  tlie  bosom  of  Deity,  presents  itself 
in  the  world  of  nature,  solves  the  enigma,  and  clears  the 
subject  from  all  remaining  difficulty.  Divine  Truth,  we 
have  seen,  clothes  itself  in  the  world,  not  only  with  images 
taken  from  exterior  nature,  but  with  the  ideas  proper  to 
the  mind  of  man  as  an  inhabitant  of  the  natural  world  ; 
frequently,  indeed,  with  ideas  vs'hich  only  belong  to  him 
in  the  merest  state  of  nature.  Hence  the  necessity  of  dis- 
tinguishing between  those  parts  of  the  letter  of  the  Divine 
Word,  which  are  expressed  according  to  appearances  only, 
and  those  parts  in  which  the  genuine  truth  js  exhibited,  as 
noticed  in  our  second  Lecture  :*  and  it  will  always  appear 
to  man  in  a  mere  state  of  nature,   and  who  judges  by  his 

*P.  80,  SI. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    ScC.  311 

senses  without  elevating  his  rational  faculty  into  a  less  falla- 
cious light,  that  all  suffering,  as  well  as  all  good,  flows 
from  the  immediate  will  of  God.  Hence  in  the  letter  of 
the  Word  of  God,  which  in  many  parts  is  expressed  ac- 
cording to  the  ideas  of  such  persons,  some  things  will  seem 
to  be  of  command  that  are  only  of  permission.  In  the 
spiritual  sense,  which  is  in  a  sphere  above  the  letter,  resjitles 
the  genuine  truth  :  but  when  this  descends  into  the  lower 
sphere  in  which  are  the  thoughts  of  man  in  his  natural 
state,  it  there  puts  on  an  appearance  different  from  its  pro- 
per one,  and  assumes  a  conformity  with  his  state  and  ideas. 
Thus,  in  the  literal  sense  of  the  Word,  many  things  are  said, 
and  even  some  practices  are  permitted,  in  which  the  ideas 
of  Divine  Truth,  and  the  laws  of  Divine  Order,  are  ac- 
commodated to  the  gross  state  of  apprehension  in  which 
the  Jews  were,  among  whom,  and  by  whom  as  instruments, 
the  AVord  of  the  Old  Testament  was  written.  This  is  not 
an  unauthorized  assertion,  but  is  expressly  taught  by  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  When,  in  answer  to  the  incpiiry  by 
the  Pharisees,  whether  it  is  lawful  for  a  man  to  put  away 
his  wife  for  every  cause,  he  had  laid  down  the  divine  law 
respecting  the  indissoluble  nature  of  the  marriage  union, 
they,  in  reference  to  Deut.  xxiv.  1,  said  to  him,  "  Why  did 
Moses  then  command  to  ffive  a  writing  of  divorcement  and 
to  put  her  away  .'"' — to  which  he  answered,  "  Moses,  be- 
cause of  the  hardness  of  your  hearts,  siiffered  you  to  put 
away  your  wives :  but  from  the  beginning  it  was  not  so."* 
He.  had  delivered  the  same  doctrine  on  a  former  occasion, 
and  had  illustrated  it,  not  only  by  the  case  of  divorce,  but 
of  several  other  things,  permitted,  and,  apparently,  com- 
manded, in  the  Mosaic  law.  Thus,  in  reference  to  Lev. 
xix.  12,  and  Deut.  xxiii.  23,  he  says,  "  Ye  have  heard 
that  it  hath  been  said  by  them  of  old  time,  Thou  shalt  not 
forswear  thyself,  but  shalt    perform   unto  the   Lord  thine 

*  Matt.  xix.  7,  S. 


S12  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

oath?  :  but  I  say  unto  you,  Swear  not  at  all,"*  &c.  So,  in 
regard  to  the  law  of  retaliation,  laid  down  in  Lev.  xxiv. 
19,  20,  he  says,  "  Ye  have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said. 
An  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth  :  but  I  say  unto 
you,  that  ye  resist  not  evil,"f  &c.  Hence,  and  from  other 
examples,  it  is  evident,  that  there  are  enactments  in  the 
Mosaic  code,  which,  in  their  external  form,  are  not  of  di- 
vine will,  but  only  of  divine  permission,  notwithstanding 
their  being  delivered  in  the  form  of  commands.  Divine 
Truth  adapted  itself  to  "the  hardness  of  men's  hearts," 
and  to  the  grossness  of  tlieir  ideas,  in  regard  to  many 
things,  which  "  from  the  beginning  were  not  so," — which, 
if  they  followed  the  order  designed  by  the  Creator  when 
he  founded  the  creation,  would  be  quite  otherwise.  Of 
this  nature,  certainly,  is  the  liberty  which  nations  arrogate 
of  engaging  in  mortal  conflict.  We  are  permitted  at  tlie 
present  day,  and  the  Jews  were  apparently  commanded, 
to  slaughter  others  in  the  war  :  but  this  also  "from  the 
beginning  was  not  so  :"  it  was  one  of  the  concessions  made 
to  the  Jews  "  because  of  the  hardness  of  their  hearts," 
and  which  we  claim  a  right  to  act  upon  to  a  certain  extent, 
because  of  the  hardness  of  ours. 

None  of  these  things,  however,  are  enjoined  upon  man- 
kind, even  in  appearance,  under  the  spiritual  dispensation 
of  the  gospel  ;  nor  would  they  have  been  enjoined  upon 
the  Jews,  and  recorded  in  the  Word  of  God,  had  they 
been  the  subjects  of  any  but  a  representative  dispensation. 
Such  ordinances  were  prescribed  to  them,  because,  though 
not  holy  or  even  good  in  themselves,  tliey  were  exactly 
symbolic  of  things  truly  spiritual  and  divine.  Thus,  had 
not  that  nation  been  selected  to  represent  the  subjects  con- 
nected with  man's  welfare  as  a  spiritual  being  and  an  heir 
of  eternity,  we  should  never  have  heard  of  their  extermi- 
nating  the   Canaanites   by  divine   command  :  they  might 

»  Ch.  V.  33.  34.  i  Ver.  38,  3H. 


THE    SCRTPTURES    ASSERTED,    &;C.  313 

probably  have  done  so  in  the  general  course  of  events,  and 
as  other  conquerors  have  frequently  sul)jugated,  and  in 
great  part  destroyed,  other  nations  :  but  we  slionld  never 
luive  been  told  that  they  acted  Ijy  divine  authority.  Eve- 
ry thing  that  takes  place  in  human  affairs,  being  under  the 
control  of  Divine  Providence,  may,  so  far,  be  said  to  be 
done  by  divine  authority  :  here,  however,  we  are  certain, 
that  much  is  done  which  is  not  of  the  divine  will,  though 
nothing  can  occur  without  the  divine  permission.  That 
guidance  of  Providence,  then,  which  in  general  is  tacit 
and  secret,  was,  in  the  case  of  the  Israelites,  open  and 
avowed,  only  because  their  affairs  were  so  directed  as  to 
be  made  symbolic  of  heavenly  things.  Thus  they  were 
not  only  tacitly  led  to  execute  the  judgments  upon  the 
Canaanites,  as  the  northern  nations  were  led  to  overrun 
and  destroy  the  corrupt  Roman  Em})ire,  and  as  the  Turks 
were  led  to  destroy  the  equally  corrupt  empire  of  the 
Greeks,  but  a  direction  to  that  effect  was  given  them  by 
divine  authority,  because  it  was  seen  by  Infinite  Wisdom, 
tiiat  the  whole  might  be  so  overruled  as  to  be  representa- 
tive of  spiritual  things  of  the  greatest  importance.  But, 
as  observed  above,  the  act  of  destroying  can  never  in  itself 
be  pleasing  to  the  God  of  love,  nor  can  the  actors  be  the 
peculiar  objects  of  his  favour  :  when  therefore  the  Israel- 
ites are  charged  to  do  such  things,  and  are  promised  bless- 
ings [temporal  blessings,  observe,)  in  consequence,  it  is 
solely  because  they  here,  as  every  where  else,  are  carrying 
on  the  business  of  the  grand  drama  of  which  they  were 
the  appointed  performers.  It  was  the  things  represented, 
not  those  executed,  which  were  the  objects  really  regard- 
ed with  approbation  by  the.Lord.  The  external  acts  ob- 
tained for  the  Jews  a  transient  abode  in  the  earthly  Ca- 
naan ;  but  such  of  them  as  received  an  inheritance  in  the 
heavenly  Canaan  obtained  it  by  very  different  means. 
This  is  only  to  be  acquired  by  the  things  represented  :  and 
every  Christian  must  do  in  reality  what  the  cxtcrininatioa 
10 


314  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

of  the  Canaanites  outwardly  symbolized,  before  he  can  be 
established  in  that  heavenly  kingdom,  of  which  a  land 
flowing  with  milk  and  honey  is,  by  analogy,  an  expressive 
representative. 

Although  then,  in  the  main,  the  extermination  of  the 
Canaanites  has  been  successfully  justified  by  many  Chris- 
tian advocates,  yet  a  higher  view  of  the  subject  tlian  has 
usually  been  taken  is  necessary  to  remove  all  the  difficul- 
ties of  the  case  :  but  all  remaining  difficulties  are  most 
completely  removed,  when  the  true  character  of  the  Is- 
raelitish  nation,  and  of  the  code  of  Divine  Truth  of  which 
they  were  the  subjects,  is  distinctly  apprehended  ;  when 
it  is  seen  that  that  nation  was  selected  to  represent,  only, 
the  states  which  belong  to  the  spiritual  life,  without  being 
principled  in  that  life  themselves  ;  and  that  every  circum- 
stance of  their  history  has  a  representative  application. 

(2.)  To  this  account  of  the  command  given  to  the  Israel- 
ites to  destroy  the  Canaanites,  we  will  add  a  general  state- 
ment of  its  spiritual  signification.  By  a  most  obvious 
analogy,  natural  foes  are  expressive  symbols  of  spiritual 
ones  ;  and  spiritual  foes  are  not  only  the  unseen  powers  of 
darkness,  but  the  tendencies  to  evil  and  error  which  lurk 
in  the  corrupt  heart  of  man, — all  the  vile  lusts  and  decep- 
tive persuasions  which  he  is  prone  to  indulge  and  cherish. 
It  is  against  these  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  warns  us, 
when  he  says,  "  A  man's  foes  shall  be  those  of  his  own 
household  :"*  for  these  words  do  not  merely  refer  to  the 
collisions  of  opinion,  and  the  animosities  on  that  account, 
which  might  be  expected  to  arise  in  families  upon  the  })ro- 
mulgation  of  the  go?pel  ;  but  to  the  discoveries  it  would 
make  of  the  corruptions  of  the  human  heart,  and  to  the 
conflict  of  feelings  Avhich  man  would  experience,  in  conse- 
quence, within  his  own  breast.  That  the  Israelitish  peo- 
ple were  types  of  the  true  members  of  the  church,  and  of 

"  M.itt.  X.  ;?t). 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  315 

the  principles  which  make  men  such,  has  been  generally 
acknowledged,  and  cannot  be  denied  after  the  statement  of 
the  Apostle,  quoted  in  our  second  Lecture.*  The  same 
sentiment  is  also  recognized  on  various  occasions  by  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  as  when  he  calls  Nathaniel,  on  account 
of  his  guileless  sincerity,  "  an  Israelite  indeed."!  Such 
being  the  signification  of  the  Jews  or  Israelites,  it  follows, 
that  that  of  their  enemies  must  be  the  contrary, — that  they 
must  represent  all  that  is  opposite  to,  and  destructive  of, 
the  sacred  principles  which  constitute  man  a  member  of 
the  church  ;  and  that  is,  all  evil  and  all  religious  error. 
This  then  must  be  the  general  signification  of  the  Canaan- 
ites  :  they  must  denote  the  corrupt  tendencies  and  senti- 
ments which  occupy  the  mind  of  man,  before  it  is  new 
modelled  by  the  principles  of  true  religion  ;  and  the  com- 
mand to  extirpate  tliem  must  be  meant  to  affirm  the  neces- 
sity of  removing  the  former  before  the  latter  can  be  estab- 
lished in  security.  This  analogy  is  so  plain,  that  its  gene- 
ral features  have  been  seen  by  many  of  the  exj)ositors  ; 
though,  for  want  of  a  regular  key  of  interpretation,  they 
usually  err  when  they  descend  to  parlicidars  :  it  has  even 
been  rendered  popular  through  the  medium  of  poetry  ;  as 
in  the  following  lines.  Taking  Joshua  as  a  type  of  the 
Saviour,  the  poet,  after  speaking  of  being  brought  to 
"  Canaan's  bounds,"  proceeds  thus: 

"  I  see  an  open  door  of  hope  ; 

Legions  of  sins  in  vain  oppose  : 
Bold,  I,  witii  tiiee,  my  head,  march  up, 
And  triumpii  o'er  a  world  of  foes. — 

Lo  !  the  tall  soiis  of  Anak  rise  ! 

Who  can  the  sons  of  Anak  meet  ? 
Captain  I  to  thee  I  lift  mine  eyes, 

And  lo  1  they  fall  beneath  my  feet. 

Passion,  and  appetite,  and  pride, 
(Pride,  my  old,  dreadful,  tyrant  foe,) 

I  see  cast  down  on  every  side  ; 

And,  conquering,  I  to  conquer  go." 

«  P.  57.  t  John  i.  47. 


316  PLENART     INSPIRATION     OF 

Who  can  avoid  being  struck  with  the  trutli  of  the  analogy 
thus  pointed  out,  and  who  can  lielp  being  aifected  with  its 
beauty  ?    And  is  not  the   utility   of  it   equally  evident  ? 
Every  one  who  knows  any  thing   of  that  wonderful  laby- 
rinth, the  human  heart,  must  be  aware,  that   the  work   of 
removing  its  native  waywardness  and  substituting   in   its 
place  steady  principles  of  virtue,  which  is  the  work  that 
divines  call   regeneration,  must  include  a  great  variety  of 
particulars,  and  must  be  attended  with  an  immense  multi- 
tude of  indescribable  emotions  ; — indescribable,  that  is,  in 
any  other  language   than  that   of  analogy.     What   other 
style  of  composition  could  be  invented,  which  should  in- 
telligibly delineate  the  innumerable  fluctuations  and  vicis- 
situdes of  state,  which,  in  the  progress  of  such  an  opera- 
tion, must  be  experienced  ?    The  best  devised  arrangement 
of  abstract  terms  that  could  be  framed  for  the  purpose, 
would  only  appear  a  confused  jumble   of  endless  repeti- 
tions.    But  construct  an  allegory  to  describe  it  :  represent 
it  under  a  series   of  historical  circumstancess  occurring  to 
a  variety  of  persons  all  invested  with  a  typical   character  ; 
and  we  easily  see  that   the   object  may  be   accomplished. 
That  Infinite  Wisdom  which   is  "  acquainted  with  all  our 
ways,"*  and  wliich  "  knoweth  the  secrets  of  the  heart  ;"f 
that   Omnipotent  God  who  alone  can    '•  take   the   stony 
heart  out  of  our  flesh  and  give  us  a  heart   of  flesh, "|  and 
who  alone  knoweth  all  the  mysteries  of  our  spiritual  as 
well  as  of  our  natural  creation  ;§  he  has  described  the 
work  in  the  divinely  inspired  account  of  the  deliverance 
of  the   children   of  Israel  from  Egypt  and  their  establish- 
ment   in   Canaan  :    and  by   actually   leading   that   people 
through  a  series  of  adventures  exactly   representative  of 
the  stages  through  which  man  is   led   to  salvation,  he  lias 
given  to  the  pliability  of  allegory  tlie  solidity  of  historical 
fact.  With  the  mere  circumstances  of  the  war,  then,  between 

■*  Fs.  cxxxix.  3.     t  Ps.  xliv.  21.     t  Ezck.  xi.  I'J.     §  Vs.  cxxxix.  14,  15,  IG. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  317 

the  Canaanites  and  the  Israelites,  we  have  nothing  to  do  : 
nothing  is  here  proposed  for  our  imitation  :  l)ut  the  true 
moral  of  the  history  is  instructive  indeed  ;  and  we  ought 
to  be  eternally  grateful  that  it  lias  been  written  for  our 
benefit. 

(3.)  With  this  idea  of  the  war  of  the  Israelites  against 
the  former  inhabitants  of  Canaan,  we  shall  easily  form  a 
general  conception  of  the  import  of  the  miraculous  capture 
of  Jericho.  The  following  are  the  principal  circumstances 
of  the  event,  as  related  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  Josluia  : 
*'  The  Lord  said  unto  Joshua,  See,  I  have  given  into  thy 
hand  Jericho,  and  the  king  thereof,  and  the  mighty  men 
of  valour.  And  ye  sliall  compass  the  city,  all  ye  men  of 
war,  and  go  round  about  the  city,  once.  Tlius  shalt  thou 
do  six  days.  And  seven  priests  sliall  bear  before  the  ark 
seven  trumpets  of  rams'  horns  :  and  the  seventh  day  ye 
shall  compass  the  city  seven  times  ;  and  the  ])riests  shall 
blow  with  the  trumpets.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that 
when  they  make  a  long  blast  with  the  rams'  horn,  and 
when  ye  hear  the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  all  the  people 
shall  shout  with  a  great  shout  :  and  the  wall  of  the  city 
shall  fall  down  flat,  and  tlie  people  shall  ascend  up,  every 
man  straight  before  him."*  This  is  tlie  command  of  the 
Lord  to  Joshua,  who  repeats  it,  a  little  more  paiticularly, 
to  the  priest  and  people.  Care  was  also  taken  that  ail  tlie 
people,  except  the  priests  who  blew  the  trum])ets,  should 
march  in  silence  for  the  first  six  days  :  for  "Joshua  had 
commanded  the  people,  saying.  Ye  shall  not  siiout,  nor 
make  any  noise  with  your  voice,  neither  shall  any  word 
proceed  out  of  your  mouth,  until  the  day  I  bid  you  shout: 
then  shall  ye  shout. "f  The  procession  thus  moved  round 
the  city,  once  each  day,  for  the  first  six  days.  "  And  it 
came  to  pass,  on  the  seventh  day,  that  they  rose  early 
about  tlie  dawning  of  the  day,  and  compassed  the  city  se- 

*  Vcr.  2  to  5.  f  Vor.  10. 


318  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

ven  times  :  only  on  that  day,  compassed  they  it  seven 
times.  And  it  came  to  pass,  on  tlie  seventh  time,  when 
the  priests  blew  with  the  trumpets,  Joshua  said  unto  the 
people,  Shout  !  for  the  Lord  hath  given  you  the  city. 
And  the  city  shall  be  accursed,  even  it  and  all  that  are 
tlierein,  to  the  Lord  :  only  Raliab  the  harlot  shall  live, 
she  and  all  that  are  with  her  in  the  house,  because  she  re- 
ceived the  messengers  that  we  sent.  And  ye,  in  any  wise 
keep  yourselves  from  the  accursed  thing,  lest  ye  make 
yourselves  accursed  when  ye  take  of  the  accursed  thing, 
and  make  the  camp  of  Israel  a  curse,  and  trouble  it.  But 
all  the  silver  and  gold,  and  vessels  of  brass  and  iron,  are 
consecrated  to  the  Lord;  they  shall  come  into  the  treasury 
of  the  Lord.  So  the  people  shouted  when  the  priests  blew 
\vith  the  trumpets.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  people 
lieard  the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  and  the  people  shouted 
with  a  great  shout,  that  the  wall  of  the  city  fell  down  flat, 
so  tluit  the  people  went  up  Into  the  city,  every  man  straight 
before  him  :  and  they  took  the  city."* 

Surely  every  one  who  believes  that  this  miracle  was  re- 
ally performed,  must  feel  that  subjects  of  universal  appli- 
cation must  be  represented  under  its  various  circumstances; 
that,  grand  and  magnificent  as  the  literal  facts  are,  yet,  if 
no  otlier  end  was  designed  to  be  accomplished  by  it  than 
the  capture  of  Jericho  and  the  destruction  of  its  inhabit- 
ants, it  never  v/ould  have  been  performed  by  an  exertion 
of  Divine  Power,  nor  recorded  in  the  Word  of  Divine 
Wisdom.  The  crimes  of  nations  render  it  necessary  that 
they  should  be  visited  by  tiie  scourge  of  war  in  our  days 
as  well  as  in  the  days  of  Joshua,  of  which  the  world  has 
of  late  years  had  sad  experience  :  but  though  the  hand  of 
Providence  is  still  often  strikingly  manifested  in  the  sur- 
prising turns  and  seeming  accidents  by  which  the  event  of 
battles  or  sieges,  embracing  the  fate  of  empires,  is  frequent- 

■"  Ver.  1.5  to  20. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  319 

ly  decided,  yet  no  results  are  obtained  without  the  action 
of  causes  which  have  at  least  something  like  a  diiect  ten- 
dency to  produce  them.  When  therefore,  in  the  ca^e  be- 
fore us,  we  see  such  great  ciTects  produced  by  means  ap- 
parently so  totally  inadequate,  we  may  be  satisfied  that  the 
whole  must  have  some  interior  signification,  and  that  it 
must  have  been  in  consequence  of  their  answering  to  spi- 
ritual things  by  analogy,  that  the  natural  events  took  place. 
Had,  also,  nothing  been  intended  but  to  exhibit  a  signal 
proof  of  Divine  Power,  the  city  might  as  well  have  been 
destroyed  by  raining  upon  it  fire  and  brimstone  from  hea- 
ven, as  is  related  of  Sodom:  but  then  the  occurrence  would 
not  have  told  the  particular  lesson  designed,  of  which  all 
the  accompanying  circumstances  were  essential  parts. 

Among  all  the  emblems  employed  in  the  representative 
worship  of  the  Israelitish  church,  the  ark  was  the  most 
holy  and  exalted.  Several  other  great  miracles  are  re- 
corded to  have  been  wrought  by  its  presence,  one  of  which 
was  noticed  in  our  tliird  Lecture:  and  the  reason  that  sucli 
power  attended  it  was,  because  it  was  the  symbol  of  the 
Divine  Presence,  and  thus  of  the  Lord  himself,  as  dwelling 
in  his  church,  and  in  the  inmost  centre  of  the  soul  of  every 
true  member  of  the  church  universal.  How  can  the  Lord's 
})resence  be  thus  eftected  with  finite  creatures,  but  by  a 
sphere  or  emanation  proceeding  from  himself,  analogous 
to  the  sphere  of  heat  and  light  })roceetling  from  the  sun  of 
nature,  by  which  the  sun  is  rendered  viitually  present,  and 
produces  effects,  in  the  earth  ?  We  have  seen  in  our  last 
Lecture,*  that  it  must  be  by  a  sjjhere  or  emanation  of  Di- 
vine Truth,  proceeding  forth  as  spiritual  light,  that  per- 
ceptions are  communicated  to  the  minds  of  intelligent  crea- 
tures, according  to  their  respective  natures  and  capacities: 
and  we  have  seen  also,  that  it  must  have  been  by  such  a 
proceeding  sphere  of  Divine  Truth,  that  the  Word  of  God„ 

'  P.  ir>s,  &c. 


320  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OP 

if  any   composition   deserving  that  title  exists,  must  have 
been  given.     The  Word  of  God,  in  its  letter,  is,  in  reality, 
the  sphere  of  Divine  Truth  thus  proceeding  from  God  fix- 
ed and  terminated   in   language  taken  from  the  objects  of 
nature  ;  and  it  is,  also,  the   great   medium   by   vi^hich  the 
Presence  of  God  is  effected  in  the  world.    The  Divine  Pre- 
sence, then,  thus  produced,  is  what  was  represented  by  the 
ark  :    and  to   impart  to  it  this  representation,  there  were 
deposited  in  it  the  two  tables  of  stone  on  which  were  writ- 
ten, by  the  finger  of  God,  as  is  said,  or  by  a  miraculous 
divine   operation,  the  commandments   promulgated  from 
Mount   Sinai  ;  these  being  the  first  fruits  of  the  written 
Word  ;   and  not   only  the  first  fruits,  but  the  substance  of 
the  whole.     The  tables  were  two,  because  they  prescribed 
man's  duty  to   God  and  his  duty  to  his   neighbour  :  these 
were  condensed  into  the  two  precepts,  to  love  the  Lord 
above  all   things  and   our  neighbour    as    ourselves  :   and 
the    Lord   Jesus    Christ    declares,    that    "  on    these    two 
commandments   hang   all   the   law   and   the   prophets."* 
There  evidently  then  is  reason  in   Analogy  for  the  ark's 
being  taken  as  a  symbol  of  the  Divine  Presence  with  man 
by  the  Divine  Truth  proceeding  from  himself:  and  that  to 
convey  this    representation   was   the  express   design  with 
which  the  ark  was  constructed,  is  evident  from  the  instruc- 
tions given  to  Moses  on  the  occasion.     Jehovah  said  to  him, 
"  h\  the  ark  shalt  thou  put  the  testimony    [the  two  tables 
of  the  law]  that  I  shall  give  thee.     And  there    I  will  meet 
thee,  and  I  will  commune  with  tliee  from  above  the  mercy- 
seat,  from  between  the  two  cherubims  which  are  upon  the 
ark  of  the  testimony,  of  all  tilings  which  I  will  give  thee 
in  commandment  unto  the  children  of  Israel. "f     That  the 
ark  was   intended   to    be  a   representative    of  the  Divine 
Presence,   is  clearly  expressed  in  the  words    "  there  I  will 
meet  thee  ;"  and  that  it  was  intended  to  be  a  representative 


*  3Iiitt.  xxii.  40.  t  Ex.  xxv.  21.  2-2. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &:C.  321 

of  the  Lord's  presence  in  and  by  his  Divine  Truth,  is 
equally  clear  from  its  being  added,  "  and  I  will  commune 
with  thee — of  all  things  which  I  will  give  thee  in  command- 
ment unto  the  children  of  Israel  ;"  for  it  can  only  be  by  his 
Divine  Truth  that  the  Lord  communicates  his  will  to  man. 
It  is  hoped  then  tliat  the  signification  of  the  ark  of  the  tes- 
timony, as  the  symbol  of  the  Divine  Presence,  and.  speci- 
fically, of  the  Divine  Truth,  must  be  sufficiently  evi- 
dent ;  as  also,  that  this  was  its  meaning  by  appoint- 
ment, and  that  there  was  a  ground  for  that  appointment  in 
Analogy. 

Jericho  was  situated  just  at  the  entrance  to  the  land  of 
Canaan  :  and  as  the  land  of  Canaan  represented  the  church, 
Jericho,  in  a  good  sense,  would  represent  the  first  state  ex- 
perienced on  full  admission  into  it,  and,  indeed,  the  prin- 
ciple by  which  such  admission  is  effected  ;  which  is,  in- 
struction in  doctrinal  truths,  accompanied  with  obedience 
of  life.  But  while  the  land  of  Canaan  was  occupied  by 
idolatrous  nations,  every  place  in  it  had  a  signification  op- 
posite to  its  genuine  one  :  and,  in  this  sense,  Jericho  re- 
presented the  disposition  to  resist  instruction,  by  opposing 
to  it  such  sentiments  as  the  corrupt  tendencies  of  the  human 
heart  incline  the  understanding  to  invent  in  their  excuse. 
The  city  itself,  then,  was  the  type  of  such  doctrinal  senti- 
ments as  resist  or  profane  the  pure  doctrines  of  the  Church; 
and  its  wall  signifies  such  false  persuasions  and  confirmations 
by  fallacious  arguments  as  defend  such  false  doctrine,  and 
prevent  those  who  hold  it  from  discerning  the  evidence  of 
truth.  Every  one  must  see  the  analogy  between  the  argu- 
ments by  which  a  man  defends  his  sentiments,  and  prevents 
an  adversary  from  depriving  him  of  them,  and  the  wall 
that  defends  a  city.  As  all  such  persuasions  originate  in 
depraved  lusts  and  appetites,  however  they  may  be  glossed 
over  ;  and  as,  in  the  time  of  judgment,  the  arguments  with 
which  they  are  excused  will  not  serve  to  defend  them  ; 
41 


PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

therefore  the  city  was  burnt  with  fire,*  and  its  wall  fell 
down  :  for  five,  as  was  shewn  in  our  third  Lecture,  is  the 
proper  symbol  of  love,  either  good  or  evil,  but  always, 
when  considered  as  to  its  destroying  property,  of  evil  love 
or  lust  ;  and  the  falling  down  of  the  wall  expresses  priva- 
tion of  all  protection.  The  marching  round  the  city,  de- 
notes the  exploration  of  the  quality  of  the  principle  repre- 
sented by  it  ;  and  the  action  upon  it  of  the  sphere  of  Divine 
Truth  from  the  Lord  was  represented  by  the  carrying 
round  of  the  ark,  and  the  sounding  of  the  trumpets  before 
it  by  the  priests.  The  sounding  of  trumpets,  in  the  repre- 
sentative dispensation  of  the  Jews,  was  a  symbol,  by  an 
obvious  analogy,  of  the  revelation,  manifestation,  commu- 
nication, or  bringing  down,  of  the  Divine  Truth,  from  a 
higher  region  towards  a  lower  :  the  priests  were  represen- 
tatives of  whatever  in  man  truly  worships  the  Lord,  which 
is  all  that  belongs  to  the  true  love  of  his  name,  and  which, 
of  course,  is  the  medium  by  which  divine  communica- 
tions are  received  from  him  :  the  shouting  of  the  people 
expresses  consent  and  confirmation  on  the  part  of  the  in- 
ferior faculties.  The  reason  why  the  priests  were  seven  in 
number,  and  why  they  went  round  the  city  seven  days,  and 
seven  times  on  the  seventh  day,  is,  because  that  number 
signifies  what   is  supremely  holy,  full,   and  complete. 

Such,  according  to  the  sense  resulting  from  the  applica- 
tion of  the  Rule  of  Analogies,  are  the  general  subjects  con- 
tained in  this  miracle  :  but  perhaps  this  will  be  more  clear- 
ly seen,  if  we  make  a  brief  application  of  it  to  a  state  to  be 
experienced  in  individual  regeneration. 

We  have  before  had  occasion  to  notice  the  doctrine  of 
the  Apostle  Paul  respecting  the  inward  and  outward,  or  in- 
ternal and  extei'nal  man.  These  he  treats  as  two  distinct 
regions  of  the  mental  constitution  ;  and  he  speaks  of  the 
necessity  of  man's  becoming   *'  spiritually  minded"  as  to 

«  Ver.54 


THE    SCRIPTUEES    ASSERTED,    &C.  323 

both.  But  he  describes  a  state  in  which  the  inward  man 
is  opened,  and  replenished  with  "  the  things  of  the  Spirit," 
while  the  outer  man,  which  he  sometimes  calls  "  the  flesh,'' 
still  "  lusteth  against  the  spirit  :"  thus,  placing  himself  in 
the  situation  of  such  a  person,  he  says,  "  I  dcliglit  in  the 
law  of  God,  after  the  inward  man  ;  but  I  see  another  law 
in  my  members,  warring  against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and 
bringing  me  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin  which  is  in  my 
members."*  Now  this  state  seems  to  be  that  which  is  re- 
presented by  the  Israelites,  when  they  had  arrived  at  the 
entrance  of  Canaan.  The  law  of  God  is  revealed  to  the 
spiritual  Israelite  in  the  wilderness,  and  is  there  made 
*'  the  law  of  his  mind."  He  there  also  learns  to  bring  his 
outward  conduct  into  conformity  to  it  :  for  it  is  not  to  be 
supposed  that,  when  the  Apostle  speaks  of  the  man  '•  who 
delights  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward  man,"  as  "  see- 
ing another  law  in  his  members,  warring  against  the  law 
of  his  mind  ;"  and  when  he  had  before  said,  speaking  in 
this  character,  "  what  I  would,  that  I  do  not,  but  what  I 
hate,  that  I  do  ;"f  he  meant  to  sanction  the  shocking 
casuistry  of  those  who  pretend,  that  immoral  conduct  is 
compatible  with  inward  holiness.  Doubtless,  even  the 
Jews  were  capable  of,  and  many  of  them  practised,  good 
outward  moral  conduct,  in  obedience  to  their  law.  But 
the  Apostle  is  not  here  speaking  of  actions,  but  of  inclina- 
tions :  for  he  opens  the  subject  with  saying,  "  I  had  not 
known  lust,  except  the  law  had  said,  Thou  shalt  not  covet  : 
but  sin,  taking  occasion  by  the  commandment,  wrought  in 
me  all  manner  of  concupiscence  ."^  he  does  not  say,  as  he 
would  have  done,  had  he  been  speaking  of  actions,  that  it 
wrought  in  him  adultery,  or  theft,  or  the  like.  The  law  in 
the  members,  then,  is  this  concupiscence, — the  evil  incli- 
nations that  are  seated  in  the  external  man.  Nor  can  it  be 
supposed,  when  he  says  that  he  had  not    known  these  but 

•  Rom.  vii.  22,23.  f  Ver  15.  J  Ver.  7,  8. 


I 


334  PLENART    lltSPIRATIOIf    OF 

for  the  law,  that  he  means  to  affirm  that  the  law  was  the 
cav^e  of  their  existence  :  what  he  means  is,  that  the  law 
made  him  sensible  of  their  existence.  But  he  that  delights 
in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward  man,  though  he  may 
also  have  brought  his  outward  conduct  into  conformity 
with  it,  will  not  be  fully  established  in  the  Lord's  kingdom, 
nor  experience  the  enjoyments  which  attend  it,  till  the  law 
in  the  members  no  longer  wars  against  the  law  of  his  mind, 
but  there  is  one  law  for  them  both,  and  both  find  delight 
in  similar  things  :  wherefore  the  Apostle  exclaims,  "  0 
wretched  man  that  I  am  !  who  shall  deliver  me  from  this 
body  of  death  ?"* — meaning  by  the  body,  not  the  natural 
body,  but  the  external  man,  which  is  to  the  internal  as  the 
body  to  the  soul,  and  whose  affections  being  oi)posite  to 
those  of  tiie  internal,  which  is  actuated  by  the  spirit  of  life, 
it  is  called  "  a  body  of  death."  This  deliverance  is  capa- 
ble of  being  effected  under  the  spiritual  dispensation  of  the 
gospel,  or  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  as  the  same  authori- 
ty affirms  when  he  adds,  "  I  thank  God  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord  ;"f  words  which  mean,  in  his  elliptical 
mode  of  expression,  "  I  thank  God,  it  is  done  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord."  He  therefore  subjoins  immediately, 
"  The  law  of  the  spirit  of  life,  in  Christ  Jesus,  hath  made 
me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  deat]i."J 

This  great  work  then,  of  the  deliverance  of  man  from 
"  the  body  of  death,"  or  from  "  the  law  of  sin  and  death," 
or  from  the  concupiscences  of  the  external  man  lusting 
against  the  spirit,  is  what  is  described,  in  the  spiritual 
sense,  by  the  extirpation  of  the  Canaanites  by  the  Israel- 
ites, under  the  conduct  of  Joshua,  who  is  an  acknowledged 
type  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  :  and  since  in  spiritual  as  in 
natural  conflicts  much  depends  upon  a  decisive  first  blow, 
to  represent  this,  the  capture  of  Jericho,  and  its  complete 
destruction,  were  effected  by  so  grand  a  miracle.     In  this 

*  Ver.  21.  t  Ver.  25.  J  Ch.  viii.  2. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  325 

individual  application,  the  ark  will  represent  the  presence 
of  the  Lord,  by  his  Divine  Truth,  in  the  inmost  of  the 
mind, — an  abode  for  him  having  been  formed  there  by  the 
application  of  the  commandments  of  the  Divine  Word  to 
the  regulation  of  the  life,  and  by  elevating  them  to  the  su- 
preme seat  in  the  affections,  to  reign  with  absolute  sway  ; 
by  making,  in  short,  the  divine  law,  "  the  law  of  the 
mind."  When  this  is  effected,  and  this  ark  is  carried 
round,  or  its  influence  directed  upon,  the  spiritual  Jeri- 
cho,— "the  law  in  the  members," — no  defence  can  stand 
before  it.  Care  however  must  be  taken  that  the  action  of 
this  battery  be  directed  in  the  manner  prescribed  :  the  ark 
must  be  carried  round  the  city  seven  days,  the  priests  must 
go  before,  blowing  the  trumpets,  and  on  the  seventh  day, 
and  not  before,  all  the  people  must  sliout.  The  Christian 
will  often  discover  an  evil  ])ropensity  in  his  heart,  and 
wish  it  away,  yet  find  it  give  him  repeated  cause  to  blush 
and  lament  for  his  weakness.  The  reason  is,  because  the 
affections  side  with  it  too  strongly  ;  because,  though,  from 
a  view  of  its  corrupt  nature  presented  by  the  understand- 
ing, he  fancies  he  wishes  it  away,  the  wish  docs  not  really 
amount  to  a  will ;  at  least,  it  falls  short  of  that  ardent  de- 
sire, accompanied  by  a  sense  of  its  intolerable  hatefulness, 
which  must  be  felt,  before  it  will  yield  either  to  his  wishes 
or  his  prayers, — before  the  influences  of  the  holy  ark  can 
be  directed  upon  it  with  sufficient  power  to  effect  its  down- 
fal.  This  was  indicated  l)y  the  direction,  that  tlie  priests 
should  go  before  the  ark,  blowing  the  trumpets  :  for,  as 
noticed  before,  l)y  the  priests  was  represented  that  inward 
principle  of  love  from  which  the  Lord  is  worshipped;  and 
their  blowing  the  trumpets  is  the  manifestation  of  Divine 
Truth,  or,  what  amounts  to  the  same,  the  communication 
of  an  influx  from  the  Lord  by  his  Divine  Truth  within  us, 
when  called  down  by  love  to  Him,  and  the  strongest  desire 
for  the  removal  of  every  thing  from  the  bosom  which  is 
opposed  to  that  love.     But  even   this  is  not  all  that  is  re- 


326  PLENARY-   INSPIRATION    OF 

quired.  Love  may  be  strong  in  the  internal  man;  and  yet 
there  may  be  obstacles  in  the  way  of  its  descent  to  encoun- 
ter tlie  evils  below.  All  the  lower  principles  which  own 
the  influence  of  the  internal  must  concur  also  ;  and  when 
this  is  the  case;  nothing  can  resist  it  any  longer.  This 
concurrence  is  represented  by  all  the  people's  shouting  a 
great  shout  at  the  command  of  Joshua  ;  upon  which  "  the 
wall  of  the  city  fell  down  flat,  and  they  went  up,  every 
man  straight'  before  him,  and  they  took  the  city."  The 
reason  why  the  people  were  commanded  not  to  shout  soon- 
er, was,  because  until  Divine  Truth,  inspired  by  love,  de- 
scends in  an  orderly  manner  through  the  interiors  to  the 
exteriors  ;  and  until  the  desire  is  increased  to  that  holy  in- 
tensity, and  all  the  energies  are  called  forth  with  that  sa- 
cred fulness,  which  the  frequent  repetition  of  the  number 
seven  involves  ;  effort  on  the  part  of  the  exteriors — the 
mere  shouting  of  the  people — would  be  unavailing  :  as,  on 
tfie  other  hand,  Divine  Truth  inspired  with  desire  in  the 
interiors  is  without  power,  till  a  corresponding  state  is 
produced  in  tlie  exteriors  :  but  when  both  concur  it  is  ir- 
resistilile. 

These  then  are  a  portion  of  the  truths  conveyed  by  this . 
beautiful  part  of  the  Word  of  God,  when  the  literal  sense 
is  unlocked,  by  the  key  aff"ordcd  by  the  fixed  relation  be- 
tween natural  things  and  spiritual.  The  analogies  might 
easily  be  made  more  conspicuous;  but,  as  observed  on  for- 
mer occasions,  this  would  extend  our  discussions  to  a 
greater  length  than  most  might  be  disposed  to  accompany 
us  :  and  if  some  leading  ones  are  seen  distinctly,  this  is 
sufficient  to  establish  the  principle.  Whether  the  doctrine 
thus  developed,  though  the  same  as  is  taught  by  the  Apos- 
tle, will  be  acceptable,  may  perhaps  be  doubted  :  it  cer- 
tainly exhibits  the  Christian  warfare  in  a  more  serious  light 
than  some  may  be  willing  to  view  it  :  but  in  a  matter  of 
such  deep  importance  the  true  question  to  be  asked  is,  not 
What  do  we  wish  ?  but  What  is  the  truth  ?     How  nmch 


THE  SCRIPTURES  ASSORTED,  &C.  327 

of  the  states  liere  described  will  be  perceptible  to  the  ex- 
perience of  the  advanced  Christian,  we  do  not  undertake 
to  say  :  doubtless,  in  the  work  of  new-creating  his  lieart 
and  mind,  much  must  be  transacted  by  the  Divine  Hand 
in  secret  :  but  that  the  work  is  real,  and  will  be  conspicu- 
ous in  its  effects,  is  declared  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
when  he  says,  "  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and 
thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence 
it  Cometh  nor  whither  it  goeth  :  so  is  every  one  that  is 
born  of  the  spirit."*  But  if  we  know  not  what  the  Lord 
doth  with  VIS  now,  we  shall  know  hereafter  :f  it  will  form 
a  great  subject  of  our  meditations  in  the  life  hereafter:  and 
we  ought  to  esteem  it  a  high  privilege,  if,  by  obtaining  the 
true  key  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  we  can  be 
instructed  in  some  of  its  mysteries  here.  What  the  Apos- 
tle has  stated  in  general  terms,  in  the  passages  noticed 
above,  is  in  this  part  of  the  Scriptures  described  as  to  all 
its  particulars:  and  whether  we  have  appetites  for  the  wis- 
dom which  may  hence  be  learned,  or  not,  we  certainly 
must  allow  that  it  is  a  species  of  wisdom  worthy  of  God 
to  communicate,  and  which,  if  really  couched  under  the 
natural  images  afforded  by  the  Israelitish  history,  renders 
the  affairs  of  that  people  worthy  to  have  been  directed  by 
God,  and  to  have  been  written  by  his  inspiration. 

We  will  only  add  further  on  this  subject,  respecting  the 
miracle  itself,  that  the  views  which  have  been  offered 
above  give  a  rational  account  both  of  the  reason  why,  and 
the  means  by  which,  it  was  performed.  It  certainly  would 
never  have  taken  place,  had  not  the  descendants  of  Israel 
been  appointed  to  act  the  part  on  the  theatre  of  the  world 
which  has  been  already  described;  that  is,  to  represent,  in 
an  external  form,  bearing  no  resemblance  to  the  things  re- 
presented,  and  yet  answering  to  them  by  an  exact  analogy, 
such  things  and  states  as  belong  to  heaven  and  the  church, 

*  Jbhn  iii.  3,  1   ('Imp.  xiii.  7. 


358  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

and  to  the  progress  of  man  in  the  spiritual  life.  But 
under  such  a  dispensation,  whenever  means  were  employ- 
ed corresponding  to  the  spiritual  operations  of  which  they 
were  the  types,  suitable  effects  invariably  followed  :  for, 
thouffh  sometimes  exhibiting  themselves  under  the  form  of 
extraordinary  miracles,  these  effects  were  in  reality  the 
necessary  consequences  of  the  means  employed,  flowing 
from  them  according  to  the  order  of  the  relation  between 
spiritual  things  and  natural,  and  being  in  fact  as  natural  as 
any  of  the  ordinary  operations  of  nature.  The  simple 
means  used  for  the  capture  of  Jericho, — the  carrying  about 
of  the  ark,  the  sounding  of  the  trumpets  by  the  priests, 
and  the  shouting  of  the  people, — being  prescribed  by  a 
Wisdom  which  knew  how  exactly  they  answered  to  cer- 
tain spiritual  operations,  by  which  spiritual  foes  are  dissi- 
pated and  their  refuges  destroyed,  were  followed  by  natu- 
ral effects,  bearing  a  precise  analogy  to  these  spiritual  ones; 
and  the  presence  of  a  sphere  of  Divine  Power  was  produc- 
ed by  them,  against  which  a  triple  wall  of  brass  would 
have  afforded  no  better  protection  to  the  city  than  its  wall 
of  stone. 

2.  The  next  circumstance  in  the  historical  relations  of 
the  Holy  Word  to  which  we  are  to  direct  our  attention, 
is  the  history  of  Jephthah  and  his  rash  vow,  as  it  is  com- 
monly called,  as  related  in  the  11th  ch.  of  the  book  of 
Judges  ;  the  principal  circumstances  of  which  are  the  fol- 
lowing. 

The  neighbouring  people  of  the  Ammonites  had  overrun 
the  land  of  Gilead,  or  the  part  of  the  Israelitish  country 
which  lay  beyond  Jordan,  and  had  passed  over  Jordan,  also, 
to  invade  the  land  of  Canaan  itself ;  so  that  the  nation  was 
reduced  to  a  state  of  great  distress.  Jephthah,  on  being 
elected  to  the  command,  in  the  first  instance,  endeavoured 
to  bring  the  Ammonites  to  reason  by  treaty:  but  his  over- 
tures being  rejected,  "  Then  (it  is  said)  the  Spirit  of  the 


THE    SCRIPTURKS    ASSERTED,    &.C.  829 

Lord  came  upon  Jeplilliah,  and  he  passed  over  Gilead,  and 
Manasseh,  and  passed  over  Mizpeh  of  Gilead,  and  from 
Mi/peh  of  Gilead  he  passed  over  unto  the  children  of  Am- 
nion. And  Jephthah  vowed  a  vow  unto  the  Lord,  and 
said,  K  thou  wilt  without  fail  deliver  the  children  of  Am- 
mon  into  my  liands  ;  then  it  shall  be,  that  whatsoever 
cometh  forth  of  the  doors  of  my  house  to  meet  me,  when 
I  return  in  peace  from  the  children  of  Ammon,  shall  sure- 
ly be  the  Lord's,  and  I  will  offer  it  up  for  a  burnt-offer- 
ing."* However  rash  this  vow  might  be,  the  piety  of  it, 
according  to  the  genius  of  those  times,  and  of  the  Mosaic 
dispensation,  seems  to  have  been  acceptable  :  for  he  com- 
pletely defeated  the  Ammonites,  so  that  they  "  were  sub- 
dued before  the  children  of  Israel."  And  the  sacred  nar- 
rative proceeds,  "  Jephthah  came  to  Mizpeh  unto  his 
house  :  and  behold,  his  daughter  came  out  to  meet  him 
with  timbrels  and  with  dances;  and  she  was  his  only  child. 
And  it  came  to  pass,  when  he  saw  her,  that  he  rent  his 
clothes,  and  said,  Alas,  my  daughter  !  thou  hast  brought 
me  very  low  ;  thou  art  one  of  them  that  trouble  me  ;  for  I 
have  opened  my  mouth  unto  the  Lord,  and  I  cannot  go 
back."!  With  the  spirit  of  a  Spartan  heroine,  she  replied, 
"  My  Father  !  if  thou  hast  opened  thy  mouth  unto  the 
Lord,  do  unto  me  according  to  that  which  hath  proceeded 
out  of  thy  mouth  ;  forasmuch  as  the  Lord  hath  taken  ven- 
geance for  thee  of  thine  enemies,  even  of  the  children  of 
Ammon."!  She  requested  however  a  respite  of  two 
months  ;  to  be  spent  in  a  solemn  mourning  for  being  cut 
off  from  the  world  in  her  unmarried  state  ;  for,  according 
to  the  ideas  of  those  times,  the  circumstance  of  leaving  no 
issue  was  deemed  a  far  greater  evil  than  death  itself.  The 
narrative  concludes  thus  :  "And  it  came  to  pass,  at  the 
end  of  two  months,  that  she  returned  unto  her  lather:  who 
did  with  her  according  to  his  vow  which  he  had  vowed  : 


^  Vor. :!(),  :',i.  I  v.T.  -.5^,  ?A,  ?.:>.  t  v.T.  at; 

42 


SSO  PLENARY    INSPlRATiaN     OF 

and  she  knew  no  man.  And  it  was  a  custom  in  Israel,  that 
the  daughters  of  Israel  went  yearly  to  lament  the  daughter 
of  Jephthah  the  Gileadite,  four  days  in  the  year."* 

There  is  no  passage  of  the  Holy  Word,  which  has  been 
the  subject  of  more  controversy  and  discussion  than  this. 
Infidel  writers,  assuming  it  to  be  the  fact  that  Jephthah's 
daughter  was  offered  as  a  burnt  sacrifice,  have  thought 
that  they  have  found  in  it  a  fair  occasion  for  railing  against 
the  volume  in  which  it  is  narrated,   and  for  denying  the 
divine  origin  of  either  the  Jewish  or  the  Christian  religion, 
as  containing,  among  the  documents  on  which  they  rest,  a 
story  so  revolting  to  humanity.     Expositors  of  Scripture, 
also,  have  been  greatly  embarrassed  with  the  narrative, 
and  have  been  divided  into  two  great  parties,   the   one 
maintaining  that  the  fair  victim  of  what  they  both  regard 
as  a  rash  vow,  was  actually  put  to  death  ;  the  other,  that 
she  was  only  devoted  to  a  life  of  pious  celibacy.     Both, 
however,  have  conclusively  shewn,  that  there  is  here  no 
room  for  the  scoffs  of  the  infidel,  let  the  fact  of  her  having 
been  put  to  death,  or  otherwise,  have  been  as  it  might  : 
since,  if  such  an  execution  was  perpetrated,  it  was  not  done 
in  agreement  with  the  divine  precepts,  but  in  flagrant  vio- 
lation of  them,f  and  only  proved  that  this  Judge  of  Israel 
was  extremely  ignorant  of  the  Mosaic  law  ;  and  if  he  only 
devoted  her  to  the  service  of  the  tabernacle,   he  still  dis- 
played a  want  of  knowledge  of  the  Levitical  code,  in  sup- 
posing that  he  "  could  not  go  back"  from  his  vow  ;  there 
being  an  express  provision  that  such  vows  might  be  com- 
muted.J     But  whatever  of  error  there  might  have  been  in 
the   transaction,   upon   the   supposition   that   the   sacrifice 
took  place,  there  would  be  much  in  it,  even  then,  that  de- 
mands admiration.     If  we   understand  it  thus,  what  pure 
patriotism,  what  generous  filial  love,   is  expressed  in  the 

*  Ver.  39,  40.  t  Lev.  xviii.  21,  Ch.  xx.  2  to  5.    Deut.  xii.  29,  30,  31. 

J  Lev.  xxvii.  1  to  8. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &,C.  331 

young  woman's  answer,  when  the  fatal  tidings  are  com- 
municated to  her  !  It  is  happiness  enough  for  her,  that 
her  country  is  rescued  from  its  oppressors,  and  that  her 
father  is  the  instrument  of  its  deliverance  ;  she  said,  there- 
fore, "  My  Father  !  if  thou  hast  opened  thy  mouth  to  the 
Lord,  do  to  me  according  to  that  which  hath  proceeded 
out  of  thy  mouth  ;  forasmuch  as  the  Lord  liatli  taken 
vengeance  for  thee  of  thine  enemies,  even  of  the  children  of 
Ammon."*  If  she  believed,  when  she  uttered  these  words, 
that  she  was  to  be  put  to  death,  certainly,  neither  Greece 
nor  Rome,  with  all  the  Leonidae  and  Decii,  can  furnish 
an  instance  of  sublimer  self-devotion  than  this  of  Jeph- 
thah's  dauo-hter.  Had  it  occurred  among;  those  boastin? 
people,  instead  of  the  plain  unvarnished  tale  of  the  sacred 
historian,  we  should  have  had  it  pressed  on  our  admira- 
tion with  all  the  pomp  of  eloquence.  Nor  would  the 
steady  resolution,  and  deep  paternal  feeling,  of  Jephthali, 
have  passed  unpraised.  In  fact  it  cannot  be  doubted,  had 
but  he  and  his  daughter  been  heathens,  that  the  very  per- 
sons who  now  find  in  the  transaction  nothing  but  a  pre- 
tence for  vilifying  the  Scriptures,  would  then  have  extol- 
led the  whole  as  exhibiting  the  finest  examples  of  the  most 
noble  constancy,  the  most  disinterested  virtue.  Even  the 
mistaken  views  from  which  it  could  be  supposed  that  such 
a  vow,  or  such  a  fulfilment  of  it  could  be  acceptable  to 
the  Supreme  Being,  would  have  been  spoken  of  as  merit- 
ing our  pity,  not  our  contempt  :  and  the  immoveable  re- 
gard to  principle,  which  in  the  father  proceeded,  and  in 
the  daughter  submitted,  to  so  deplorable  a  catastrophe, 
would  have  been  thought  to  atone  for  any  error  of  judg- 
ment in  forming  that  principle,  and  to  exalt  those  who 
were  capable  of  it  to  the  highest  rank  among  the  worthies 
who  have  shed  a  lustre  on  the  human  race. 

But  though  the  praise  of  disinterested  heroism  cannot 

*  Judges  xl  36. 


332  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

be  withheld  either  from  the  father  or  the  daughter,  upon 
the  supposition  that  she  was  actually  sacrificed,  yet  Chris- 
tians in  general  have  thought  that  the  honour  of  religion 
was  compromised  in  the  transaction,  because  Jephthah  was 
an  instrument  raised  up  by  Providence  for  the  deliverance 
of  Israel,  and  was  divinely  favoured  as  a  commander  and 
judge  ;  and  because  no  intimation  is  given  in  the  history 
tliat  the  vow  was  considered  to  be  illegal,  or  was  attended 
Avith  any  divine  disapprobation.  But  if  the  honour  of  re- 
ligion depended  on  the  blamelessness  of  the  characters  dis- 
tinguished in  the  Israelitish  history,  it  would  be  very  diffi- 
cult to  maintain  it  indeed  ;  as  there  is  scarcely  one  of  them 
whose  conduct  might  be  proposed,  without  reserve,  for 
the  imitation  of  the  Christian.  To  the  best  of  them,  as 
remarked  above,  on  the  authority  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
many  things  were  permitted,  "  because  of  the  hardness  of 
their  hearts,"  which  "  in  the  beginning  were  not  so,"  and 
which  are  therefore  prohibited  to  the  member  of  the  true 
church.  Every  thing  then  proves  the  necessity  of  regard- 
ing the  Jews  as  constituting,  according  to  the  view  already 
offeretl,  not  a  true  internal  church,  but  an  external  repre- 
sentative one,  or  rather  as  exhibiting  the  representation  or 
type  of  one  ;  in  which  case,  sanctity  and  intelligence  of 
private  character  are  by  no  means  imi)lied  to  attend  on  the 
persons  who  sustained  even  the  most  holy  and  exalted  re- 
presentations. They  were  placed  in  those  situations  for 
the  benefit  of  others  more  than  for  their  own  ;  that, 
through  all  generations,  instruction  of  a  divine  and  spirit- 
ual nature  should  be  presented  to  mankind,  in  the  most 
permanent  as  well  as  striking  form  in  which  it  could  be 
imparted.  Thus  considered,  it  matters  not  to  us,  beyond 
the  interest  which  the  story  is  calculated  to  excite,  whetlier 
Jcphthah's  daughter  was  actually  sacrificed,  or  whether 
she  was  merely  made  a  nun  ;  any  more  than  it  does 
whether  Agamemnon's  daughter  was  actually  sacrificed,  or 
whether,  as  some  authors  affirm,  she  was,  at  the  critical 


THE    ICRIPTURKS    ASSERTED,    &C.  333 

ft 

moment,  conveyed  away  by  Diafta,  to  be  a  priestess  in  her 
temple,  and  a  white  hind  miraculously  substituted  in  her 
place.  With  this  view,  it  matters  not  to  us,  whether 
Jcphthah  was  the  man  of  enlightened  piety  which  he  is 
described  by  some  writers,  or  the  ignorant  barbarian 
assumed  by  others.  His  conduct,  at  the  worst,  was  not 
below  that  of  the  most  illustrious  characters  of  the  most 
polished  nations  of  his  age :  it  was  such  as  naturally 
sprung  out  of  the  habits  and  modes  of  thinking  of  the 
times  :  but  it  was  so  overruled  by  Divine  Providence,  as 
to  the  express  form  of  it,  and  so  related  in  the  Divine 
Word,  as  to  be  representative  of  a  highly  important  fact 
and  state  in  the  Christian  warfare,  and  to  teach  a  momen- 
tous spiritual  truth.  And  this  is  all  that  we  have  to  do 
with  it,  considered  as  one  of  the  narratives  of  Divine 
Revelation. 

(1.)  It  is  not  then  my  intention  to  attempt  to  decide  the 
much  disputed  question,  whether  Jephthah's  daughter  was 
really  put  to  death  or  not.  My  own  opinion  certainly  is, 
that  she  was  not  :  but  I  am  led  to  form  this  opinion,  more 
from  a  spiritual  consideration  which  will  appear  in  the 
sequel,  than  from  any  elucidation  of  the  literal  history 
which  I  have  met  with  ;  for  after  all  the  pains  that  have 
been  taken  by  the  learned  to  make  the  literal  history  itself 
point  to  this  conclusion,  I  still  think  that  the  most  unforc- 
ed inference  from  the  language  of  the  original,  and  from 
the  history  in  general,  is,  that  tlie  sacrifice  took  place.* 
But,  it  will  then  be  asked,  why  is  this  ?  Why  is  the  his- 
tory couched  in  such  terms  as  wotdd  seem  to  imply  that 
the  dreadful  rite  was  performed,  when  a  statement  of  the 
contrary,  if  that  was  the  fact,  would  be  so  agreeable  to 
the  feelings  of  every  one  who  peruses  the  narrative,  and 
would  have  obviated  the  objections  which  are  thence  urg- 
ed against  its  holy  nature  .''    Perhaps  the  only  satisfactory 

*  See  this  fully  proved  in  the  Appendix,  No.  VI. 


334  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

answer  which  can  be  giveti  is,  Because  the  subjects  treated 
of  in  the  spiritual  sense  could  not  have  been  so  fully  re- 
presented, had  not  such  an  appearance  been  permitted  in 
the  letter. 

And  if  both  these  facts  are  true,  viz.  that  Jephthah's 
daughter  was  not  put  to  death,  and  yet  that  the  literal 
narrative,  without  positively  affirming  it,  seems  to  point 
to  that  inference  ;  it  may  be  remarked,  by  the  way,  that 
we  have  here  such  an  example  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
historical  relations  of  the  Scriptures  are  composed,  as  may 
tend  to  clear  up  some  other  difficulties  in  the  literal  ac- 
counts. For  this  will  shew,  that  fully  to  convey  the  spi- 
ritual sense  is  the  sole  object  regarded  in  the  construction 
of  the  narrative.  The  circumstances  recorded  with  this 
design  are  true  ;  but  perhaps  they  do  not  immediately  ex- 
hibit the  whole  truth,  as  regards  the  mere  history  ;  other 
circumstances,  without  the  knowledge  of  which  the  histo- 
rical relation  seems  confused  and  imperfect,  being  omitted, 
because  the  mention  of  tiiem  would  have  been  incompati- 
ble with  the  spiritual  lesson  intended.  This,  I  am  satisfi- 
ed, is  the  true  cause  of  tlie  elliptical  style  so  often  observa- 
ble in  the  sacred  writers,  and  whicli  renders  it  frequently 
so  difficult  to  arrive  at  certainty  respecting  positive  facts. 
Just  so  much  is  recorded  as  conveys  the  true  spiritual 
sense,  and  no  more  :  and  Divine  Wisdom,  which  only  re- 
gards things  eternal,  deems  it  of  no  moment  whatever, 
though  an  impression  be  thus  left  of  transient  events,  dif- 
ferent from  the  true  one,  Man's  salvation  and  his  ad- 
vancement to  eternity  in  spiritual  wisdom,  are  tlie  sole 
objects  intended  to  be  promoted  by  tlie  gift  of  the  Holy 
Word  :  but  these  no  more  depend  upon  his  knowing  with 
certainty  whether  Jephthah's  daughter  was  put  to  death 
or  not,  than  upon  his  knowing  with  certainty  whether 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots  M^as  privy  to  the  death  of  Darnley 
or  not.  Both  inquiries  have  exercised  the  pens  of  many 
profound  and  elegant  scholars,  because  man,  as  living  in 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  835 

time,  takes  an  interest  in  temporal  events  :  but  He  who  is 
Eternal,  and  whose  communications  to  man  are  addressed 
to  him  as  an  heir  of  eternity,  regards  his  notions  on  both 
subjects  as  matters  indifferent,  and  no  more  deems  it  im- 
portant that  the  facts  of  the  one  history  should  be  certainly 
known,  than  of  the  other. 

But  when  we  say,  that,  notwithstanding  the  fact  was 
otherwise,  yet  it  is  suffered  to  appear  in  the  letter  as  if 
Jephthah's  daughter  was  actually  sacrified,  because  other- 
wise the  subjects  treated  of  in  the  spiritual  sense  could  not 
have  been  fully  expressed  :  the  elucidation  may  perhaps 
be  thought  to  render  the  matter  still  more  obscure.  It 
may  be  asked,  If  human  sacrifices  were,  in  fact,  the  great- 
est abominations  that  could  be  offered  to  insult  the  Majes- 
ty of  heaven,  and  were  strictly  prohibited  in  the  divine 
law  on  that  account,  how  can  it  be  necessary  that  an  ap- 
pearance of  the  performance  of  one  should  occur  in  this 
history  ;  especially  when  it  evidently  is  not  related  to 
represent  any  thing  profane  and  unholy,  but  the  contrary  ? 
It  may  be  answered.  For  the  same  reason  as  it  was  neces- 
sary for  Abraham  to  believe  that  it  was  required  of  him 
by  the  Lord  to  sacrifice  his  only  son,  Isaac  ;  and  to  act 
under  the  influence  of  this  belief  so  far,  as  to  "  stretch 
forth  his  hand,  and  take  the  knife  to  slay  his  son."*  In 
the  case  of  Abraham,  also,  the  actual  deed  was  prevent- 
ed ;  but  the  preparations  proceeded  far  enough  to  shew, 
that  the  offering  up  of  a  child  as  a  sacrifice,  taken  only  in 
one  point  of  view,  has  a  holy  signification  ;  though,  taken 
in  another,  it  is  in  the  highest  degree  profane.  The  same 
may  be  concluded  with  probability  from  this  circum- 
stance, that,  by  the  Levitical  law,  the  first-born  of  every 
thing  was  considered  as  belonging  to  the  Lord:  "The 
Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  saying,  Sanctify  unto  me   all  the 

*  Gen.  xxii.  10. 


336  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

first-born  ;  whatsoever  openeth  the  womb,  among  the 
children  of  Israel,  both  of  man  and  beast  :  it  is  mine."* 
This  is  the  first  instance  where  this  law  is  delivered  :  and 
here  the  offspring  of  man  and  beast  are  put  on  the  same 
footing  ;  and  the  only  idea  proposed  is,  the  entire  surren- 
der of  them,  however  they  were  to  be  afterwards  disposed 
of,  to  the  Lord.  Now  the  first-born  of  clean  beasts  were 
to  be  offered  in  sacrifice,  without  any  alternative  :f  and 
for  the  first-born  of  unclean  beasts,  a  clean  one  was  to  be 
substituted  and  sacrificed  also  ;  as  a  lamb  or  kid  for  an 
ass. I  But  because  no  animal  was  considered  as  an  equiva- 
lent for  the  first-born  of  man,  he  was  to  be  redeemed  by 
the  payment  of  a  price  :§  beside  whick,  also,  the  whole 
tribe  of  Levi  was  taken  in  lieu  of  all  the  first-born  of 
Israel  :||  but  as  the  actual  putting  of  them  to  death  would 
have  been  horrible  in  itself,  and  would  have  borne  the 
profane  signification  which  we  have  intimated,  they  were 
consecrated  to  the  Lord  in  a  different  way,  and  dedicated 
to  the  sacred  service  of  the  tabernacle  ;  which,  however, 
was  considered  as  a  figurative  sacrifice,  and  a  death  to  the 
world.  This  is  evident  from  its  being  instituted  in  refer- 
ence to  the  death  of  all  the  first-born  of  Egypt  ;  "  All  the 
first-born  are  mine  :  for  on  the  day  that  I  smote  all  the 
first-born  in  the  land  of  Egypt  I  hallowed  unto  me  all  the 
first-born  in  Israel,  both  man  and  beast  :  mine  they  shall 
be  :  I  am  the  Lord. "IF  The  death  of  the  first-born  of 
Egypt,  both  of  men  and  cattle,  was  evidently  representa- 
tive of  the  spiritual  death,  as  to  all  the  leading  sentiments 
and  affections  of  their  minds,  of  those  who  would  oppress 
and  destroy  the  true  church  of  God,  or  the  sacred  princi- 
ples which  compose  it  ;  or  a  death  to  every  thing  holy 
and  heavenly,   true  and  good  ;  and  the  consecration   to 

*  Ex.  xiii.  1,  2.       f  Numb,  xviii.  17.       t  Ver.  15.     Ex..xiii.  13.       §Nuiiib. 
xviii.  IC.       II  Cli.  iii.  12.      1[  Ver.  13. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  337 

God  of  all  the  first-born  of  Israel,  both  of  man  and  beast, 
must  certainly  be  intended  to  represent  something  exactly 
the  opposite  of  the  former  ;  an  entire  devotion  to  the  Lord 
of  all  the  leading  sentiments  and  affections  of  the  mind, 
and  a  death  to  every  thing  selfish  and  earthly.  Therefore, 
all  the  first-born  of  beasts  were  actually  offered  in  sacrifice: 
and  if  the  offering  in  sacrifice  of  the  first-born  of  man 
could,  to  use  the  appropriate  distinction  made  by  Bishop 
Warburton,  form  merely  a  significative  and  not  at  the  same 
time  a  moral  action,  it  would  have  been  commanded  too, 
as  the  most  complete  mode  of  exhibiting  the  representation 
intended  :  but  as  it  would  have  been  a  moral  action  like- 
wise, and  would,  in  this  respect,  have  been  most  flagitious, 
consecration  to  the  service  of  the  tabernacle  was  appointed 
in  its  stead. 

(2.)  Here  then  we  shall  have  a  key  to  that  otherwise 
inexplicable  mystery,  the  practice  of  human  sacrifices. 

Every  one  must  be  apt,  on  the  first  thought,  to  wonder 
how  so  horrible  a  superstition,  so  repugnant  to  some  of 
the  strongest  feelings  of  human  nature,  as  the  sacrificing 
of  human  victims,  and  especially  of  children  by  their  pa- 
rents, could  ever  have  been  tolerated  among  mankind  for 
a  moment  ;  much  more,  how  it  could  have  been  so  exten- 
sively and  constantly  practised  among  the  various, — in- 
deed, as  it  would  appear,  among  all  the  nations  of  antiqui- 
ty, as  history  assures  us  was  the  fact.*  Even  the  most 
polished  nations  of  those  times,  the  Greeks  and  Romans, 
were  not  untainted  with  it;  and  we  are  assured  that  it  was 
practised  to  an  enormous  extent  in  this  now  favoured 
island  of  Britain.  It  is  evident  from  numerous  pas- 
sages of  Scripture,  that  the  custom  was  particularly  pre- 
valent among  the  original  inhabitants  of  Canaan  and 
the  surrounding  countries,  especially  in  the  worship  of 

*  Sec  Bryant's  Dissertation  on  the  Human  Sacrifices  of  the  Ancienta  ;  or 
M8|;pe  on  Atonement  and  Parrificp.  Vol.  1,  No.  V. 

43 


333  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

Moloch,  horrid  king,  besmeared  with  blood 

Of  human  sacrifice,  and  parents'  tears  ; 
Though,  for  the  noise  of  drums  and  timbrels  loud, 
Their  children's  cries  unheard,  that  pass'd  through  fire 
To  his  grim  idol. 

What  could  have  been  the  reason  that  a  mode  of  worship, 
which  had  every  principle  of  natural  feeling  and  common 
sense  alike  opposed  to  it,  could  ever  obtain  so  extensive  a 
reception  ?  Only,  I  apprehend,  because,  regarded  in  one 
point  of  view,  or  taken  simply  as  a  signifcant  action,  it 
was  seen  to  carry  a  holy  representation.  Hence  it  got  into 
use,  in  disregard  to  its  character  in  the  other  point  of 
view,  considered  as  a  moral  action  ;  which  ought  never  to 
be  laid  out  of  sight,  and  in  which  it  was  in  the  highest  de- 
gree atrocious  ;  and  from  which,  when  actually  perpetrat- 
ed, it  became,  in  its  signification  also,  in  the  highest  de- 
gree profane.  The  practice  then  would  appear  to  have 
had  the  same  origin  as  many  other  of  the  most  detestable 
practices  that  have  ever  prevailed  among  mankind, — the 
perversion  of  something  intrinsically  good  :  and  it  illus- 
trates the  old  and  very  true  maxim, — The  best  things, 
when  corrupted,  become  the  worst. 

But  to  exhibit  this  in  its  proper  light,  it  is  necessary  to 
say  something  of  the  origin  of  sacrificial  worship  in  gene- 
ral ;  though  this  will  anticipate  what  we  proposed  to  offer 
presently  on  that  subject. 

(3.)  If  there  be  indeed  a  Mutual  Relation  and  Analogy, 
not  of  a  merely  arbitrary  and  conjectural  kind,  but  fixed 
and  invariable,  between  spiritual  things  and  natural  ;  we 
certainly  must  see  in  it  a  more  clear  and  satisfactory  origin 
of  the  practice,  anciently  quite  universal,  of  the  worship 
by  sacrifices  and  burnt-offerings,  than  can  be  afforded  by 
any  other  principle  :  and  that  worship  itself,  otherwise  so 
unaccountable,  affords,  in  its  turn,  a  strongly  conclusive 
argument  for  tlie  reality  of  that  Analogy,  and  for  the  fact 
endeavoured  to  be  established  above,  that  in  ancient  times 
the  relations  of  tliis  Analogy  were  extensively  understood. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  ^39 

A  satisfactory  theory  of  the  origin  of  sacrificial  rites  is 
ainonff  the  jrreat  desiderata  of  modern  religious  science:  and 
surely  it  must  be  agreeable  to  the  intelligent  and  candid 
mind,  to  view  so  curious  a  subject  in  a  light  which  invites 
the  understanding  and  gratifies  it, — in  a  manner  of  which 
light  may  be  justly  predicated  ;  rather  than  to  acquiesce  in 
regardinff  the  whole  as  involved  in  darkness,  and  to  take 
refuge  in  the  blind  persuasion  which  some  autliors  of  great 
name  would  recommend  : — that  sacrificial  worship  must 
have  originated  from  God,  because  it  is  too  irrational  ever 
to  have  been  invented  by  man  !*  Perhaps  both  parts  of 
this  proposition  might  be  successfully  controverted,  and  it 
might  be  shewn,  first,  that  sacrifices  were  not,  strictly 
speaking,  first  instituted  by  God;  and,  secondly,  that  when 
men  adopted  them  they  took  for  their  guide  a  certain  law 
of  nature.  The  former  sentiment  has  been  strongly  advo- 
cated by  the  celebrated  Maimonides,  among  the  Jews,  and 
by  the  learned  Spencer,  and  others,  among  Christians  ; 
and  if  they  had  heen  aware  that  there  is  a  regular  analogy 
between  spiritual  things  and  natural,  I  doubt  not  that  they 
would  also  have  incontrovertibly  established  the  latter, 
and  not  have  fallen  into  the  errors  wliich  at  present  dis- 
figure their  systems.  To  enter  into  all  the  inquiries  neces- 
sary to  this  investigation  woidd  require  a  work  by  itself: 
this,  probably,  if  life  and  healtli  be  spared  me,  I  may  here- 
after attempt  :  a  mere  sketch,  chiefly  proposed  hypotheti- 
cally,  is  all  that  can  be  offered  here. 

We  will  first  see  what  is  the  Scriptural  idea  of  the  Sac- 
rifices under  tiie  Mosaic  law. 

The  prevailing  opinion  upon  this  subject  is,  that  they 
were  instituted  by  divine  appointment  to  prefigure  the 
death  or  sacrifice  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  that  this 
was  their  only  design.  Most  certainly  it  is  true,  that  He 
is  "  the  Lamb  of  God,  that   taketh   away   the  sins  of  the 

*  See  Abp.  Magce's  Dissertation  On  the  Katural  Unreasonableiuss  of  the 
fiacrificuil  Rite  :  being  No.  Iv.  in  his  work  On  MoncTrvtiit. 


340  PLENART    INSPIRATION    Of 

world  :"*  and  that  all  the  sacrifices,  yea,  all  the  rituals,  of 
the  Mosaic  law,  yea,  the  whole  Word  of  God,  have  a  spe- 
cific reference  to  him:  but  it  is  no  less  true  that  they  have 
a  reference  to  us  likewise.  Because  "  Christ  our  passover 
is  sacrificed  for  us,"f  are  we  not  to  •'  purge  out  the  old 
leaven,  that  we  may  be  a  new  lump,"  and  to  "  keep  the 
feast,  not  with  old  leaven,  neither  with  the  leaven  of  ma- 
lice and  wickedness,  but  with  the  unleavened  bread  of  sin- 
cerity and  truth  ?"|  In  other  words,  are  we  not  to  offer 
a  spiritual  sacrifice  ourselves  ?  None  but  an  Antinomian 
will  answer  in  the  negative.  We  are  not  only  to  look  to 
Jesus  Christ,  but  to  follow  him  :§  we  cannot  do  this  with- 
out offering  the  spiritual  worship  of  the  heart  and  mind  : 
and  the  Scriptures  plainly  teach,  that,  as  regards  us,  this 
spiritual  worship  is  what  the  sacrificial  worship  represent- 
ed. If  sacrifices  were  designed  to  be  significative  of  no- 
thing besides  the  death  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  why  were 
so  many  kinds  of  them  prescribed  ?  Why  were  so  nume- 
rous ceremonies  directed  to  be  observed  in  the  offering  of 
each  .''  And  especially,  why  were  certain  quantities  of 
flour  and  oil,  either  crude  or  prepared  in  various  ways  in 
the  form  of  cakes,  to  be  burnt  upon  the  altar  ?||  Why 
were  the  first  fruits  of  the  harvest  to  be  presented ?||  These 
made  as  necessary  a  part  of  the  Levitical  offerings  as  the 
sacrifices  of  animals  :  evidently,  then,  the  sacrifices  of  ani- 
mals must  also  have  represented  spiritual  things  of  the 
same  general  nature,  though  with  a  variety  as  to  their  spe- 
cies, as  the  offerings  of  cakes  and  fruits  ;  and  as  these  can- 
not represent  the  death  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  upon  the 
cross,  neither  can  the  others  be  confined  to  that  significa- 
tion. The  truth  then  is,  that,  applied  to  the  case  of  man, 
all  the  numerous  sacrifices  and  offerings  of  the  Levitical 
code,  represented  the  true  worship  of  the  Lord  arising 
from  all  the  affections  and  sentiments  of  a  heavenly  nature 


•*  John  i.  29.     t  1  Cor.  v.  7.     t  Ver.  7,  8.      §  Matt.  iv.  19,  xvi.  24.  xix.  21. 
John  xiv.  26,  &e.     ||  Lev.  ii.  &c. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  341 

that  can  be  inseminated  by  God  into  the  human  heart  and 
mind  ;  and  the  offering  of  them  upon  his  altar  was  expres- 
sive of  the  heartfelt  acknowledgment,  that  they  all  are 
from  the  Lord,  and  to  be  ascribed  to  him  alone  ;  in  which 
acknowledgment  and  ascription  all  true  worship  essential- 
ly consists. 

Many  declarations,  giving  this  idea  of  the  design  of  sac- 
rifices, are  to  be  found  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments. David,  in  the  depth  of  his  humiliation  for  his 
crimes,  when,  if  at  any  time,  the  mind  would  be  disposed 
to  fly  to  external  sacrifices,  if  either  in  themselves,  or  as 
representing  the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ,  they  possessed 
any  efficacy,  exclaims,  "  Thou  desirest  not  sacrifice  ;  else 
would  I  give  it  :  thou  delightest  not  in  burnt-offerings  : 
the  sacrifices  of  God  are  a  broken  spirit:  a  broken  and  a  contrite 
hearty  0  God,  thou  wilt  not  despise  :"*  evidently  instructing 
us  what  the  sacrifices  of  God,  suited  to  sincere  penitence, 
really  are,  and,  of  course,  what  the  Levitical  sacrifices  re- 
presented :  namely,  a  state  of  the  thoughts  and  affections 
in  which  man  acknowledges,  in  deep  humility,  his 
own  nnworthiness.  Accordingly,  Jehovah  says  by  the 
prophet,  in  a  passage  which  is  repeatedly  quoted  by  the 
Lord  in  the  gospel,  "  I  desired  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice;  and 
the  knowledge  of  God  rather  than  burnt-offerings  :"f  where  it 
is  evident,  since  sacrifices  were  nevertheless  established 
under  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  that  the  Divine  Reprover 
means  us  to  understand,  that  outward  sacrifices,  separate 
from  the  dispositions  of  heart  and  mind  intended  to  be  re- 
presented by  them,  cannot  be  accepted  ;  and  that  the  hea- 
venly graces  for  which  sacrifices  were  used  as  symbols,  are 
mercy  or  love,  and  the  knowledge  of  God  or  a  living  faith 
in  him.  Similar  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Apostles.  Paul 
says  to  the  Romans  :  "I  beseech  you  brethren,  by  the 
mercies  of  God,  that  ye  present  your  bodies  a  living  sacri- 

"  Ps.  li.  16,  17.  t  Hos.  vi.  6.     Matt.  ix.  13,  xu.  7. 


5  42  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OP 

fce^  holy  and  acceptable  unto  God  ;  which  is  your  reason- 
able service  :"*  where  it  is  evident  that  by  a  living  sacrifice 
he  means  a  pure  life  and  conversation  ;  and  he  calls  it  a  rea- 
sonable service^  to  contrast  it  with  the  carnal  service  of  sac- 
rifices, and  to  intimate  that  the  latter  was  an  image  of  tlie 
former.  So  he  says  to  the  Hebrews  :  "•  By  him  let  us  of- 
fer the  sacrifice  o(  praise  to  God  continually,  that  is,  the  fruit 
of  your  lips^  giving  thanks  to  liis  name  :  but  to  do  good  and 
to  communicate  forget  not,  for  with  such  sacrifices  God  is 
well  pleased. "f  Here  praise  and  doing  good,  the  service  of 
the  lips  and  of  the  actions,  are  described  as  sacrifices  :  evi- 
dently shewing,  that  the  sacrifices  of  God  are  the  free-will 
offeiings  of  adoration  and  love,  proceeding  from  heavenly 
aifections  and  manifested  by  beneficent  deeds.  How  plain 
is  the  inference,  that  the  offerings  of  the  Levitical  law 
must  be  meant  to  represent  such  offerings  of  the  heart  and 
mind, — the  pure  worship  of  the  Lord,  flowing  from  affec- 
tions of  love  and  charity,  offered  to  him  as  their  only 
source  and  author  ! 

As  then  the  outward  sacrifices  were  nothing  without  the 
spiritual  ones  of  which  they  were  types  ;  nor,  indeed, 
with  them,  to  those  whose  minds  were  sufficiently  elevat- 
ed to  form  just  ideas  of  spiritual  worship  without  the  help 
of  the  carnal  figures,  as  appears  from  the  example  of  David 
just  quoted;  these  latter  were  not  given  to  tlie  Israelites  of 
the  Divine  Will  and  Appointment,  but  permitted  them  on 
account  of  yie  hardness  of  their  hearts  ;  as  is  evident  from 
the  passage  just  adduced  from  Hosea,  and  more  decidedly 
from  those   cited   above    from  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel.|     It 

*  Ch.  xii.  1.  f  Cli.  xiii.  15,  16 

X  Pp.  301.  302.  "  I  spuke  not  unto  your  fathers,  nor  commanded  tliem,  in 
tlie  day  that  I  brought  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  eoncernirig  burnt-offer- 
ings and  .saerififes  :  but  this  thing  I  commanded  them,  saying,  Obey  my  voice, 
and  T  will  be  your  God,  and  ye  shall  be  my  people ;  and  walk  ye  in  the  ways 
that  1  have  commanded  you,  that  it  may  be  well  unto  you."  (Jer.  vii.  22,  23.) 
■"  Because  they  had  not  executed  my  judgments,  &c. — Whercfiire  I  gave  them 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  343 

has  indeed  been  proved  by  many  learned  men,  that  the 
sacrifices  directed  in  the  Levitical  law,  with  many  other 
of  the  customs  introduced  into  that  law,  were  not  institu- 
tions given  for  the  first  time  by  Moses,  but  such  as  had 
long  before  been  observed  among  the  eastern  nations  :*  all 
that  was  done  by  Moses  respecting  them  was,  to  limit  the 
animals  which  might  be  offered  in  sacrifice  to  certain  s})e- 
cies,  and  to  prescribe  exactly  the  place,  occasions,  and 
manner  of  offering  them.  Now  how  may  this  previous 
and  general  use  of  sacrificial  worship  be  reasonably  sup- 
posed to  have  originated  ?  how  so  reasonably,  as  in  a 
knowledge  of  that  fixed  analogy  between  natural  things 
and  spiritual,  which  we  have  before  shewn  was  extensively 
possessed  in  the  early  ages  of  the  world  ?  The  people  of 
those  times  well  knew  of  what  affections  and  sentiments, 
or  of  what  modes  of  thinking  and  feeling,  the  various  ani- 
mals are  the  proper  emblems  and  representative  forms  : 
they  knew,  also,  that  all  genuine  worship  of  the  Lord  es- 
sentially consists  in  an  elevation  to  him  of  all  the  affections 
and  perceptions  of  the  heart  and  mind  :  and  they  knew 
that  to  sacrifice  the  corresponding  animals  upon  an  altar 
dedicated  to  the  Lord  would  be  a  significant  action,  pow- 
erfully expressive  of  such  pure  worship.  But,  it  may  be 
asked,  could  the  joining  of  the  significative  action  to  the 

also  statutes  that  were  not  good,  and  judgments  whereby  they  should  not  live." 
(Ez.  XX.  25.)  These  words  are  evidently  conti'asled  with  ver.  11.  "  I  gave 
them  my  statutes,  and  shewed  them  my  judgment.-?,  which  if  a  man  do  he  shall 
even  live  in  them."  The  statutes  and  judgments  in  or  by  vv'hich  a  man  should 
live  (for  the  particle  in  the  original  is  the  same  which,  in  ver.  25,  our  transla- 
tors have  rendered  by,)  and  which  are  said  to  have  been  delivered  to  the  Israel- 
ites upon  their  coming  out  of  Egypt,  are  clearly  the  law  of  the  decalogue  :  and 
the  statutes  not  good,  and  judgments  by  wliich  they  should  not  live,  and  which 
are  said  to  have  been  given  them  for  their  rebellions  in  the  wilderness,  are  as 
clearly  the  law  of  ceremonies.  Seo  this  fact  proved  to  the  completest  demon- 
stration, and  the  paltering  attempts  of  Shuckfbrd  to  evade  it  most  entirely 
overthrown,  in  Warburton's  Div.  Leg.  B.  iv.  Sec.  6. 

*  See  Warburton  ithi  supra  ;  and  Michaelis's  Comin.  Lav.  of  Moses.  Art.  /?, 
1«9,  &.C. 


344  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

spiritual  worship  of  the  heart  and  lips  render  the  latter 
any  more  acceptable  to  the  Lord  than  it  would  be  without 
it  ?  This  cannot  well  be  supposed  :  and  we  may  be  sure 
that  while  men  remained  in  that  state  of  elevated  intelli- 
gence which  saw  clearly  the  spiritual  things  to  which  na- 
tural objects  answer  by  analogy,  they  would  not  think  it 
necessary,  nor  even  allowable,  to  add  the  representative 
rite  to  the  spiritual  reality.  Previously  to  the  time  of 
Noah,  at  least,  if  it  be  true  that  the  slaughter  of  animals, 
even  for  food,  was  unknown,  a  rite  which  required  it 
would  surely  be  deemed  unlawful.  They  knew  that,  as  a 
significative  action,  it  might  be  expressive  of  pure  worship  : 
but  they  knew  also,  that  the  only  real  part  even  of  repre- 
sentative worship  must  be  the  offering  to  the  Lord  of  the 
inward  states  of  mind  which  the  animals  represented,  and 
that  in  the  slaughter  of  the  animals  themselves  there  was 
nothing  pleasing  to  the  Lord,  but  rather  the  contrary,  as 
it  was  attended  with  suffering,  which,  even  when  inflicted 
on  an  animal,  is  abhorrent  from  the  will  of  Infinite  Good- 
ness. So  thinks  Archbishop  Magee;  and  doubtless  he  here 
thinks  right,  though  he  draws  from  the  fact  the  opposite 
conclusion:*  and,  though  he  perhaps  did  not  think  so  cor- 
rectly, he  yet  expresses  as  certain  a  truth,  when  he  afiirms 
that  the  language  of  the  first  men  "  cannot  be  supposed  so 
defective,  in  those  terms  that  related  to  the  worship  of 
God,  as  to  have  rendered  it  necessary  to  call  in  the  aid  of 
actions  to  express  the  sentiment  of  gratitude  or  sorrow. "f 

*  Speaking  of  Abel,  he  affirms  it  to  be  little  likely  "  that  he  would  have  re- 
sorted to  that  species  of  action,  which,  in  the  eye  of  ri-ason  must  have  appeared 
displeasing  to  God,  the  slaughter  of  an  unoffending  animal."  On  Atonement, 
&c.  Disc.  ii.  Hence,  taking  it  for  granted,  that  when  Abel  '•  brought  of  the 
firstlings  of  his  flock,  and  of  the  fat  thereof,  (Gen.  iv.  4,)  he  slew  them  as  a 
burnt-sacrifice,  (though  the  text  does  not  say  so,)  the  learned  Archbishop  in- 
fers, that  he  was  led  by  an  express  revelation  to  do  an  act,  against  which  his 
own  reason  and  moral  sense  revolted.  But  the  true  nature  of  Abel's  offerinjj 
may  be  gathered  fi-om  what  is  advanced  above,  and  will  further  appear  from  a 
view  which  we  hav«  to  offer  in  the  next  T.,prtnre. 

1   Ibid. 


THE    SCniPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  S45 

But  the  very  reason  why  it  was  not  so  defective,  was,  be- 
cause it  followed  the  laws  of  the  analogy  between  spiritual 
things  and  natural  :  wiiatever  idea  of  a  spiritual  or  divine 
subject  they  hatl  conceived  in  tlieir  minds,  they  did  not 
seek  for  ab^^tract  metaphysical  terms  to  express  it,  but 
painted  it  to  the  life  in  terms  borrowed  from  natural  ob- 
jects, of  tlie  spirit\xal  relations  of  which  they  had  an  intui- 
tive perception.  It  is  related  of  Adam,  that  the  Lorel 
brought  unto  him  every  beast  of  the  field  and  every  fowl 
of  the  air  "  to  see  what  he  would  call  them  ;  and  whatso- 
ever Adam  called  every  living  creature,  that  was  the  name 
thereof  :"*  who  can  suppose  that  the  mere  fact  of  giving 
verbal  names  to  animals  is  all  that  is  here  intended?  Doubt- 
less, they  are  right  who  infer,  that  when  Adam  gave  names 
to  all  living  objects  he  had  an  intuitive  perception  of  their 
nature,  in  all  its  relations  :  or  rather,  his  knowledge  of 
their  nature  is  the  thing  described,  in  the  language  of  ana- 
logy, by  the  significative  action  of  pronouncing  their 
names.  Whilst  then,  in  any  considerable  degree,  the  un- 
defiled  worship  of  the  Lord  was  preserved,  and  the  intui- 
tive wisdom  of  Adam  remained,  among  his  posterity,  when 
they  conversed  of  or  described  such  worship,  they  would 
borrow  images  from  the  significant  actions  which  they  saw 
would  represent  it,  and  would  speak  of  it  as  of  offering,  as 
sacrifices  and  burnt-offerings,  animals  and  the  fruits  of  the 
earth  :  and  this  they  would  do,  owing  to  the  peculiar  ge- 
nius of  all  who  lived  before  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  when 
a  more  powerful  illumination  of  the  human  mind  was  af- 
forded, because  such  symbolic  language  would  give  them 
stronger  and  fuller  ideas  of  the  subject  than  could  be  afford- 
ed by  any  other  medium.  But, with  them,  it  went  no  further, 
as  may  be  concluded  from  a  reference  to  this  custom  which 
we  find  in  the  prophet  Hosea,  who,  as  if  on  purpose  to  ex- 
plain this  ancient  style  of  expression,  uses   it  thus  :    "So 

*  Gen.  ii.  19. 

4\ 


346  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

will  we  render  the  calves  of  our  lips."*  With  these  offer- 
ings, then,  in  the  times  of  which  we  were  spealving,  man- 
kind were  content.  They  offered  to  the  Lord  the  affections 
of  the  heart,  represented  by  the  cc/resand  other  animals  used 
in  sacrifices,  in  their  prayers  and  praises,  called  1  y  the  pro- 
phet the  lips  :  but  without  slaughtering  the  animals  them- 
selves: and  they  described  their  worship  in  the  same  terms 
as  would  be  employed  in  speaking  of  an  animal  sacrifice. 

It  is  easy  to  see,  however,  that,  in  darker  ages,  this  style 
of  speech  and  writing  would  lead  to  the  abuse  of  offering 
animal  sacrifices  themselves  :  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
formation  of  hieroglyphic  sculptures,  to  present  to  the 
mind,  througli  the  intervention  of  natural  images,  spiritual 
and  divine  ideas,  led  to  a  far  more  flagrant  abuse,  the  ab- 
surdities of  image-worship.  When  a  generation  of  grosser 
minds  aro  e, — of  men  who  were  more  immersed  in  sensual 
and  carnal  objects  and  regards,  and  who  thence  had  not 
such  clear  perceptions  of  the  hidden  meaning  of  phrases 
drawn  from  the  Science  of  Analogies,  and  of  a  purely  spi- 
ritual worship,  they  began  to  think  it  necessary  actually 
to  put  the  animals  to  death  ;  much  as  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic, to  strengthen  his  conceptions,  when  engaged  in  devo- 
tion, of  his  redemption  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  thinks 
it  necessary  to  have  a  crucifix  before  his  eyes.  And  as 
they  who  thus  introduced  the  carnal  part  of  the  worship, 
bv  the  help  of  it  retained  some  idea,  or  some  obscure  feel- 
incT,  of  what  was  spiritually  represented,  the  use  of  actual 
sacrifices  was  permitted,  by  Divine  Providence,  as  neces- 
sary to  keep  this  alive. 

Here  then,  surely,  we  have  a  very  probable  reason,  wliy 
sacrifices  were  permitted,  and  in  appearance  enjoined,  to 
the  children  of  Israel.  Pro})erly  speaking,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  they  were  not  enjoined  them,  since  their  an- 
cestors were  in  the  custom  of  using  them  long  before  ; 

*  Hos.  xiv.2. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    SlC.  347 

and  the  continuance  of  the  practice  was  permitted  to  the 
Israelites,  because  they  "  rebelled  against  the  Lord  in  the 
wilderness  ;"*  or,  in  the  language  of  Jesus  Christ,  "  Be- 
cau:?e  of  the  hardness  of  their  hearts."  And  the  moral 
reason  why,  under  certain  regulations,  they  were  permit- 
ted to  the  Jews,  was,  because,  though  their  true  spiritual 
reference  was  not  known  to  that  carnal  people,  they  yet 
were  affected  by  them  with  a  sense  of  holiness,  and  kept 
in  some  kind  of  worship,  of  whicli,  without  sucii  helps, 
thev  would  have  been  incapable  ;  at  least,  if  not  allowed 
to  worship  Jehovah  with  sacrifices,  they  would  have  wor- 
shipped with  sacrifices  Baal  and  Moloch.  But  the  ulti- 
mate reason  for  the  institution  of  sacrifices  among  the 
Israelites,  was  the  same  as  that  of  t!ieir  call  and  selection 
as  a  peculiar  people  ;  that,  from  the  descriptions  and  pre 
cepts  relatiiig  to  this  representative  worship  recorded  in 
the  Divine  Word,  future  generations,  under  a  dispensation 
of  higher  light,  without  returning  to  the  use  of  the  signifi- 
cative actions,  might  learn,  by  a  knowledge  of  their  mean- 
in^,  how  to  offer  to  the  Lord  a  purely  spiritual  worship  : 
a  worship  that  should  consist  in  the  consecration  to  Him, 
at  all  times,  of  all  the  faculties  of  the  heart  and  mind,  and 
in  t!ie  ascription  of  this  to  him,  at  stated  periods,  in  pray- 
ers and  praises,  in  their  public  assemblies. 

(3)  We  now,  I  trust,  siudl  have  foimd  a  clew,  that  will 
unravel  the  mystery  of  the  extensive  prevalence,  in  former 
ages,  of  the  practice  of  human  sacrifices.  For  from  what 
has  been  offered  it  will  appear,  that  there  may  be  forms  of 
speaking  and  writing  respecting  sacred  subjects,  and  of 
describing  them  by  imagined  significative  actions,  which 
would  be  exceedingly  criminal  if  reduced  into  practice. 
We  find  that,  considered  as  a  moral  action,  the  slaughter 
even  of  animals  cannot  enter  with  strict  propriety,  or  any 
otherwise  than  by  permission,   into    the  worship   of  the 

»  ExoU.  XX.  13. 


348  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

Lord  ;  although,  viewed  merely  as  a  significative  action,  it 
affords  images  highly  expressive  for  rcp>"ese7i/mo-  his  genuine 
w6rship.  So  it  is,  in  a  much  higher  degree,  when  the  sub- 
ject of  the  sacrifice  is  considered  to  be  a  son  or  a  daughter. 
If  the  animals  allowed  to  be  sacrificed  were  representative 
of  certain  principles  in  the  mind  of  the  offerer  dedicated  by 
him  to  the  Lord  ;  his  own  children  must  be  representa- 
tive of  principles  in  his  mind  connected  with  him  still 
more  closely, — more  nearly  allied  to,  and  indeed  identical 
with,  the  governing  motives  of  all  his  conduct.  They  must 
be  significative  of  the  proper  affections  of  his  own  will, 
the  proper  conceptions  of  liis  own  understanding  ;  and 
these,  unless  surrendered  and  consecrated  to  the  Lord, 
would  have  self  alone  for  their  object  ;  and  this,  again,  if 
suffered  to  reign,  would  poison  every  virtue.  For  tliis 
reason,  inider  the  representative  dispensation  of  the  Jew* 
all  the  first-born,  without  exception,  were  declared  to  be 
holy  to  the  Lord  :  and  if  the  sacrificing  of  them  could  be 
merely  a  significative  and  not  at  the  same  time  a  moral  ac- 
tion, this  would,  in  the  fullest  manner,  convey  the  impor- 
tant spiritual  doctrine.  On  this  account  it  was  that  Abra- 
ham, the  proper  type  of  the  most  devoted  of  the  faithful, 
was  tried  as  to  his  willingness  to  offer  Isaac  :  he  was  per- 
mitted, as  noticed  above,  to  go  far  enough  towards  the 
completion  of  the  sacrifice  fully  to  shcAv  its  holy  import  as 
a  significant  action,  though  he  was  stopped  in  tijue  to  ex- 
clude its  enormity  as  a  moral  one  :  and  the  reason  assign- 
ed by  Jehovah  for  the  blessing  afterwards  pronounced 
upon  him,  was,  "  Because  thou  hast  not  withheld  thy  son, 
thine  only  son."*     Thus  it  is  evident,  that,    in   the   lan- 

*  Gen.  xxii.  16.  JIuch  erudition  and  genius  have  been  exercised  to  prove, 
that  the  sacrifice  of  Isaac  was  designed  as  a  representation  of  that  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  I  acknowledge  it  to  have  been  so  :  indeed,  its  appHcahilitj'  to 
that  groat  fact  appears  too  obvious  to  be  overlooked  by  any  one.  But.  takino- 
the  representation  under  this  ndation,  what  part  does  Abraham  sustain  in  it  ? 
Is  he  a  type  of  •'  the  Father"  of  the  New  Testament,  as  Isaac  is  of  '•  the  ^on  :" 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASStRTKI),    &,C.  3l9 

gnage  of  Analogy,  to  speak  of  sacrificing  cliildren  to  the 
Lord  only  means  to  devote  to  him  the  nearest  and  inmo&t 
affections  of  the   heart.     As  a  significant  action,  and  when 

This  is  a  conclusion,  wbicli,  according  to  the  common  mode  of  undcistaridirig 
the  transaction,  seems  impossible  to  bo  avoided.  Even  ^V^aiburton  is  con- 
strained to  admit  it  :  tiiough  he  considers  tiic  wiiolc  to  be  specially  intended 
to  instruct  Abraham  in  tiie  mystery  of  the  Redemption,  he  cannot  lielp  repre- 
fietiting  the  patriarcli  as  standing  in  a  relation  of  analogy  to  tlie  Father:  thus 
he  savs,  that  "  God  to  instmct  him  (in  the  best  manner  humanity  is  capable  of 
receiving  instruction)  in  the  infinite  extent  of  divine  goodness  to  mankind, 
'  who  spared  n()t  his  own  son,  but  delivered  him  up  for  us  all,'  [Rom.  viii.  32.] 
let  Abraham  feel,  by  experience,  what  it  was  to  lose  ;i  beloved  son."  [D. 
Leg.  B.  vi.  Sec.  5.]  But  how  monstrous  is  such  an  idea  !  The  relation  begins 
with  informing  us,  (ver.  1,)  that  "  God  did  tempt  Abraham  :"  if  then  Abraham 
represents  the  Father  of  Jesus  Clirist ; — who  is  the  being  here  denominated 
God  ?  And  was  the  Father  himself  tempted  in  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ .'  and 
by  Himst^lf .'  And  is  it  of  himself  that  he  here  says,  '•'  By  myself  have  I 
sworn,  .saith  the  Lord,  for  because  thou  hast  done  this  thinff,  and  hast  not 
withheld  thy  son,  thine  only  son  :  that  in  blessing  I  will  bless  thee,  and  in 
multiplying  I  will  multiply  thy  seed  us  the  stars  of  heaven,  and  as  the  sand 
wliich  is  upon  the  sea  shore  ;"  «fec.  [ver.  IG,  17.]  Evidently,  in  this  view  of 
the  matter,  there  is  an  utter  want  of  parallelism  between  the  type  and  the 
antitype,  and  the  whole  is  replete  with  inconsistencies.  But  consider  Abra- 
ham himself  as  the  principal  type  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  the  transaction  ; 
and  admit  that  in  typical  language  different  persons  may  be  mentioned  to  re- 
present, not  different  beings,  but  different  principles  in  the  same  being,  whe- 
ther in  God  or  in  man  ;  and  all  difficulties  vanish.  Abraham  is  the  onlv  agent  : 
it  is  he  who  surrenders  and  is  about  to  sacrifice  Isaac,  who  is  quite  p;issive  ; 
and  he  acts  in  the  affair  by  the  command  of  God  :  thus  the  circumstances  of 
tlie  whole  become  exactly  parallel  to  those  of  the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  (Jjirist,  as 
slated  in  his  own  words.  He  says  of  himself,  "  /  lay  down  my  life  for  the 
eheep. — No  man  taketh  it  from  me,  but  /  lay  it  doton  of  myself  :  I  have  j)ower 
to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  power  to  take  it  again  :  this  commandment  hare  I 
rvcrircd  of  my  Father."  [John  x.  1.5,  18.]  Abraham  then  represents  that 
fuiuciplo  in  tlie  Lord  Jesus  Ciiri.st  which  says,  "  I  lay  down  my  life  of  my 
self:"  Isaac  is  the  life  laid  down, — the  life  of  the  himian  nature:  and  "  God" 
is  "  the  Father," — the  Divine  Essence  Itself, — whose  love  was  the  moving 
cause  of  man's  redemption.  The  life  which  Jesus  Christ  savs  he  has  '•  power 
to  take  again,"  is  also  tiie  life  of  his  human  nature  glorified  at  his  resurrection, 
which  is  represented  by  the  restoration  of  Isaac  to  Abraham,  as  it  were  •'•'  from 
the  dead  ;  from  whence  also  he  received  !)im  in  a  figure."  [Heb.  xi.  10.] 
Thus  the  whole  becomes  consistent,  oven  to  the  blessing  pronounced  upon 
Abraham  for  his  obedience  ;  which  refer.«  to  the  salvation   of  ni.iu    iu   rouse- 


350  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

sufferetl  to  go  no  faither  than  to  words  or  signs,  the  sacri- 
fice of  children  was  clearly  representative  of  something 
pre-eminently  holy.  The  reason  is,  because,  in  this  point 
of  view,  the  children  are  not  regarded  as  possessing  any 
thing,  not  even  life,  as  their  own,  but  are  considered  as  if 
they  were  the  absolute  property  of  their  parents  ; — merely 
as  something  mosit  dear  to  them,  and  -which  they  are  to 
dedicate  to  the  Lord  as  an  acknowledgment  that  all  good 
is  from  him,  and  of  right  is  to  be  ascribed  to  him.  No 
doubt  then,  among  the  ancients,  who  were  acquainted 
with  the  relation  that  natural  things  bear  to  spiritual,  and 
whose  ordinary  language  was,  to  a  great  degree  at  least, 
formed  upon  that  relation,  whence  they  used  to  speak  of 
sacrifices  in  their  conversation  and  Avritings  which  they 
never  thought  of  performing  according  to  the  letler,  the 
sacrifice  of  children  would  often  be  mentioned  :  and  hence 
arose  the  abuse  :  for  their  ignorant  and  corrupt  descend- 
ants at  length  proceeded  to  the  act.  This  must  necessarily 
be  in  tlie  highest  degree  pVofane  :  because  here  the  moral 
nature  of  the  action  interferes,  and  totally  changes  the 
character  of  the  significative.     For  although,  in  one  point 

qiietice  of  the  assiimplinn  b}'  the  Lord  of  the  human  nature,  his  laying  down 
of  ihe  life  of  it,  and  his  taking  of  it  again  in  a  glorified  state,  and  tliencc  im- 
parting the  gifts  of  the  spirit :  [John  vii.  39  :]  his  seed  who  should  be  multiplied 
are  the  church  of  his  faithful  followers  ;  or  those,  to  whom  he  thus  "  gave 
power  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  even  they  that  believe  on  his  name." 
[John  i.  12.] 

But  the  reference  of  this  type,  in  its  highest  application,  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  does  not  exclude  it  fi-oni  having  a  secondary  reference  to  his  faithful 
disciples.  As  observed  in  the  text  above,  we  are  required  to  follow  him  :  we 
are  to  drink  of  the  same  cup,  and  to  be  baptized  with  the  same  baptism  ; 
as  he  said  to  James  and  John  :  "  Ye  shall  indeed  drink  of  the  cup  that  I  drink 
of,  and  with  the  baptism  that  I  am  baptized  withal  shall  ye  be  baptized  :" 
[Markx.  39:J  whence  the  Apostle  declares,  "We  are  buried  with  him  by 
baptism  unto  death :  that  like  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead  l)y  the 
glory  of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should  walk  in  newness  of  life."  [Rom. 
vi.  4.]  It  is  doubtless,  then,  true,  that  Abraham  is  a  type  of  the  rao.st  faithful 
of  the  followers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Ciirist  as  well  as  of  himself;  and  in  this 
reference  the  sacrifice  of  Isaac  must  bc;ir  the  nieaninfr  stated  in  ihe  Uxt  above. 


THE    SCnrPTURES    ASSF.HTED,    SiC.  So\ 

of  view,  children  may  be  considered  merely  in  their  rela- 
tion to  their  parents,  and  thus  as  their  property  ;  yet  are 
tliey  also  luiman  beings  themselves,  having  a  life  distinct 
from  that  of  their  parents,  and  being,  or  at  least  in  prepa- 
ration for  becoming,  independent  moral  agents  :  hence  to 
kill  them  is  murder  of  tlie  worst  kind  :  and  hence  the  act 
of  sacrificing  them,  instead  of  representing  the  hallowing 
of  the  inmost  affections  to  the  Lord,  represents  the  direct 
contrary, — the  privation  of  all  spiritual  life  in  the  affec- 
tions with  which  the  man  is  most  closely  identified,  and, 
in  fact,  the  substitution  in  the  heart  of  the  love  of  evil  for 
the  love  of  good  ;  which  is  ec^uivalent  to  the  worship  of 
demons  instead  of  God. 

It  surely  cannot  be  difficult  to  see,  that  all  this  is  ground- 
ed, not  in  any  fanciful,  but  in  a  most  certain  and  determi- 
nate analogy.  A  few  words  will  now  suffice,  to  apply 
these  principles  to  the  apparent  sacrifice  of  Jephlhah's 
daughter. 

(4.)  It  has  been  shewn  in  our  last  Lecture,  that  the  peo- 
ple or  nations  who  occupied  the  covmtries  surrounding  the 
land  of  Canaan,  are  all  representative  of  moral  and  intel- 
lectual principles,  more  or  less  connected  with,  or  opposed 
to,  those  which  constitute  the  church  in  the  human  mind  ; 
and,  less  abstractedly,  of  those  classes  of  persons  who 
make  such  principles  their  predominant  and  influencing 
motives.  One  of  these  nations  was  that  of  the  Ammonites ': 
and  it  WQuld  be  both  a  curious  and  interesting  inquiry,  to 
endeavour  to  ascertain,  of  what  specific  principle,  and 
class  of  persons,  connected  with  the  church,  they  were  the 
representatives  ;  bnt  to  render  the  inquiry  satisfactory,  it 
would  demand  more  space  than  we  can  now  spare  ;  and  it 
is  not  necessary  to  the  immediate  object  before  us.  Suf- 
fice it  to  say,  that  it  is  a  principle,  as  appears  from  the 
chapter  of  Judges  detailing  the  history  of  Jephthah  and 
his  daughter,  which  not  only  infests  the  church,  rej)resent- 
ed  by  the  Ammonites  overrunning  the  land,  btit   claims   a 


552  PLENARr    INSPIRATION     OF 

legitimate  riglit  to  it  ;*  aiul  which,  tliongh  clearly  confut- 
ed from  the  Word  of  God,f  does  not  recede  from  its  pre- 
tensions.+  But,  what  throws  more  light  upon  Jephthah's 
vow,  it  is  a  principle,  the  abstract  idea  of  which  is  typifi- 
ed by  the  fancied  deity  who  was  particularly  worshipped 
by  the  sacrifice  of  children — the  horrid  Moloch  : 

'•  Him  the  Ammonite 

Worshipped  in  Rabbah  and  her  wafry  plain, 
In  Argob  and  in  Basan,  to  tlie  stream 
Of  utmost  Arnon." 

Thus  Moloch  is  emphatically  called  in  Scripture,  "the 
abomination  of  the  children  of  Ammon."§  It  is  true  that 
in  Jephthaii's  remonstrance,  Chemosh  is  mentioned  as  their 
God  ;||  who  was  properly  the  idol  of  the  Moabites  :1[  but 
the  Moabites  and  the  Ammonites  are  often  considered  as 
one  people  :  and  Chemosh,  also,  was  worshipped  by  the 
sacrifice  of  cliildren  ;  as  is  evident  from  the  conduct  of  his 
proper  votary,  the  king  of  Moab,  who  "  took  his  eldest 
son,  that  should  have  reigned  in  his  stead,  and  oflTered  him 
for  a  burnt-offering  upon  the  wall."**  Now  the  occasion 
upon  which  Jephthah  uttered  his  vow,  was,  when  he  was 
about  to  engage  in  mortal  conflict  with  this  nation  of 
sacrificers  of  their  children.  Consider  this  conflict  as 
representative  of  that  which  takes  place  in  the  mind,  when 
any  evil  attachment  that  has  taken  deep  root  there  is  to  be 
ejected.  Every  one  must  be  aware  that  no  evil  can  be 
successfully  combated  but  from  the  opposite  good,  from  a 
desire  for  it,  and  an  inward  attachment  to  it  :  who  then 
does  not  see,  that  when  the  evil  to  be  removed  is  that  of 
which  the  Ammonites  were  types,  and  which  was  appro- 
priately represented  by  the  actual  sacrifice  of  their  sons 
and  daughters  to  Moloch  or  Chemosh,  the  significant  ac- 
tion most  proper  to  represent  the  opposite  good  would  be, 
an  apparent  sacrifice  of  a  son  or  daughter  to  Jehovah  ? 


*  Vfr.  13.     tVpr.  15to27.     f  Ver.  28.     §  1  Kings  xi.  7.     ||  Jud.  xi.  24. 
D    1  Kings  xi.  7.     .\nm.  x\t.  30.     *'  2  Kings  iir.  27. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  353 

This  then  appears  to  be  the  true  design  of  this  extraor- 
dinary transaction  :  only  one  or  two  more  of  its  circum- 
stances need  be  noticed.  No  evil,  as  has  just  been  inti- 
mated, can  ever  be  entirely  removed,  till  the  mind  is  made 
completely  willing  to  relinquish  it  :  and  this  willingness 
manifests  the  presence  of  an  opposite  good  ;  and  is  such, 
in  fact,  itself.  It  is,  however,  seldom  produced  but  in  a 
state  of  deep  inward  trial  :  this,  therefore,  is  appropriately 
represented  by  the  anxiety  respecting  the  issue  of  the  bat- 
tle which  engrossed  the  feelings  of  Jepiithah  when  he 
made  his  vow,  and  which  he  describes  by  the  strong  ficrure 
of  "putting  his  life  in  his  hands:"*  and  his  vow  as  strong- 
ly breathes  the  willingness  itself.  And  that  resolutions  of 
relinquishment  and  of  dedication,  made  in  a  season  of 
trial,  are  not  to  be  receded  from  when  it  is  over,  is  signi- 
fied by  Jephthah's  perseverance  in  performing,  "  when  he 
returned  in  peace  from  the  children  of  Ammon,"  that 
which  he  had  vowed  in  the  hour  of  jeopardy. 

When,  however,  we  speak  of  Jephthah's  perseverance 
in  performing  his  vow.  we  mean,  his  perseverance  such  as 
it  appears  upon  the  face  of  the  narration  :  but  that  this 
extended  to  the  actual  sacrificing  of  his  daughter,  cannot, 
I  think,  be  supposed.  .  Here,  as  before  observed,  the  mo- 
ral character  of  the  action  Avould  interfere,  and  would, 
beside  being  so  horrible  in  itself,  entirely  vitiate  the  signi- 
ficative. Upon  the  supposition,  however,  that  she  was 
sacrificed,  (the  fault  of  whicli,  we  have  before  seen,  would 
lie  entirely  in  the  ignorance  of  the  parties,)  as  all  mention 
of  the  actual  perpetration  of  the  deed  is  avoided,  the  sig- 
nification of  the  transaction,  as  it  stands  in  the  record, 
would  not  be  altered.  But,  no  doubt,  the  execution  was 
prevented, — probably  in  one  of  the  ways  which  the  com- 
mentators  have  supposed  :    but   as,    in    the  history,    the 

*  CIi.  xii.  3. 
45 


S54  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

merely  significative  action  is  all  that  is  intended  for  con- 
sideration ;  therefore  the  narrative  is  so  constructed  as  to 
lead  to  the  conclusion  that  the  sacrifice  took  place. 

And  surely  the  reason  wliich  we  have  alleged  for  the 
narrative's  bearing  such  a  construction,  must  be  seen  to  be 
amply  sufficient.  That  the  only  instance  in  the  Israelitish 
history  which  presents  the  appearance  of  the  sacrifice  of  a 
child  having  been  vowed  or  performed  by  a  leader  favour- 
ed of  God,  should  occur  where  the  object  of  it  was  to 
obtain  divin-e  aid  ag;ainst  a  nation  of  sacrificers  of  their 
children,  must  have  struck  all  who  ever  remarked  it,  as  a 
very  extraordinary  coincidence  :  how  can  it  be  accounted 
for,  but  by  the  analogy  which  we  have  endeavoured  to 
point  out,  on  the  one  hand,  between  the  real  sacrifice  of 
a  child  to  an  idol  and  the  devotion  of  the  nearest  affections 
of  the  mind  to  the  love  of  evil,  and,  on  the  other,  between 
the  apparent  sacrifice  of  a  child  to  God  and  the  devotion 
of  the  inmost  affections  to  the  love  of  good  ;  whence  the 
one  constitutes  the  proper  opposite,  and  depicts  the  pro- 
per antidote,  of  the  other  ?  Thus  the  narrative  becomes 
eminently  illustrative  of  the  true  character  of  the  Israeli- 
tish history  ;  it  strongly  confirms  the  fact,  that  that  histo- 
ry is  of  a  representative  character  throughout  ;  and  it 
exhibits  the  necessity  of  calling  in  the  Science  of  Analogies 
for  its  elucidation,  and  for  clearing  up  the  difficulties  with 
which  the  letter,  regarded  by  itself,  often  appears  per- 
plexed. 

We  have  dwelt  at  considerable  length  upon  the  import, 
when  decyphered  by  the  Science  of  Analogies,  of  the  cap- 
ture of  Jericho  and  of  Jephthah's  vow,  because  they  af- 
forded opportunities  of  illustrating  some  important  truths 
of  a  general  nature,  which  tend  to  throw  considerable 
light  upon  the  whole  of  the  subject  under  inquiry  :  but, 
to  prevent  this  work  from  extending  too  far   beyond   the 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  355 

moderate  dimensions  which  it  seems  advisable  to  observe, 
we  must  confine  our  explanation  of  the  examples  still  to 
be  offered  nearly  within  the  limits  of  a  simple  statement. 

3.  The  combat  between  David  and  Goliath,  related  in 
1  Samuel,  ch.  xvii.  bears  so  many  marks  of  its  representa- 
tive character  on  the  face  of  the  nari-ative,  that  many  ex- 
positors have  felt  that  something  was  intended  by  it  beyond 
a  mere  relation  of  historical  facts. 

The  victory  obtained  by  a  youth,  represented  as  a  mere 
child,  with  a  sling  and  a  pebble  from  the  brook,  over  a  pro- 
fessed champion  above  nine  feet  in  stature  and  armed  at  all 
points,  has  generally  been  considered  as  symbolizing,  in  a 
very  expressive  manner,  the  superiority  of  divine  depend- 
ance  over  self-confidence  ;  and  undoubtedly  this  is  the 
general  meaning  of  the  history.  The  Philistines,  we  have 
stated  in  a  former  Lecture,*  represent,  in  tiie  Word,  those 
who  profess  to  belong  to  the  church,  and  who  have  an 
extensive  knowledge  of  sacred  subjects,  but  yet  give  them- 
selves no  concern  about  bringing  knowledge  into  practice, 
about  uniting  their  faith  with  charity  ;  and  who  even  pro- 
ceed so  far  as  to  affirm,  that  salvation  depends  upon  faith 
alone.  In  all  ages,  and  in  all  churches,  there  have  been 
professors  of  this  description,  and  we  know  that  there  is  a 
large  body  of  them  at  the  present  day,  some  of  whom 
even  go  to  the  extent  of  affirming,  that  they  who  embrace 
the  gospel  are  freed  from  tlie  necessity  of  observing  the 
law.  Now,  as  to  apply  the  knowledge  of  salvation  by 
Jesus  Christ  to  so  impure  a  heresy  as  this,  is  dee[)ly  to  de- 
file it,  therefore  the  Philistines  are  often  called  in  Scrip- 
ture, by  way  of  reproach,  the  uncircumcised ;  that  term 
denoting  those  who  are  in  all  the  undeanness  of  the  nnpu- 
rified  lusts  of  the  natural  man.  That  epithet  is,  indeed, 
in  a  great  measure  appropriated  to  them  :    Thus  David 

«  Pase  134. 


356  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

says,  in  the  history  before  us,  "  Who  is  this  uncircumcised 
Philistine,  that  he  should  defy  the  armies  of  the  living 
God  ?"*  The  wars,  then,  between  the  Philistines  and  the 
Israelites,  were  symbolic  of  the  contests  for  supremacy  in 
the  church  between  this  doctrine,  and  that  of  faith  in 
union  with  charity.  Giants,  when  mentioned  in  Scripture, 
always  denote  those  who  are  in  strong  persuasion  of  their 
superior  power  and  intelligence,  and  who  are  deeply 
grounded  in  pride  and  self-conceit  ;  as  is  generally  the 
case  with  those  who  are  in  the  persuasion  tliat  they  are 
the  peculiar  favourites  of  heaven,  accepted  on  account  of 
their  faith,  but  whose  natural  lusts  are  at  the  same  time 
unsubdued  ; — especially  those  who  never  reflect  upon  sin 
in  themselves,  and  conceive  that  the  justification  which 
they  have  received  makes  it  impossible  for  them  to  com- 
mit any  ; — or,  in  other  words,  that  whatever  they  may 
commit  does  not  appear  in  the  sight  of  God.  The  armour 
wherein  the  Philistine  trusted,  affords  a  suitable  image  of 
the  false  reasonings,  and  perversions  of  truth,  by  which 
such  persons  confirm  themselves  in  their  erroneous  persua- 
sions. David,  on  the  contrary,  is  generally  allowed  to 
represent,  in  the  highest  sense,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as 
to  that  principle  in  his  nature  whereby,  when  in  the 
world,  he  combated  against  and  subdued  the  infernal  pow- 
ers which  held  man  in  bondage  ;  and  hence,  derivatively, 
he  represents  the  faithful  member  of  the  church,  who  en- 
gages in  spiritual  conflicts  in  an  humble  dependance  on 
the  Lord  alone.  The  smooth  stones  from  the  brook,  are 
the  pure  truths  of  the  Divine  Word,  applied,  with  the 
proper  power,  to  detect  the  fallacies  by  which  they  who 
cherish  faith  without  charity  support  their  cause  :  and  the 
stone  smote  the  enemy  in  his  forehead,  to  denote,  that  the 
very  first  and  leading  principle  of  the  system  of  doctrine 

'  Ver.  26.     See  also  ver.  36  ;    and  Jud.  xiv.  3,  xv.  18  ;    1  Sam.  x\\.  6,  xixi. 
4  ,  2  Sam.  i.  20. 


THE    SCRIPTURES-  ASSERTED,    &.C.  357 

which  makes  every  thing  to  depend  upon  faith, — the  sen- 
timent which  forms  the  head  of  all  the  rest, — is  discovered 
at  once  to  be  erroneous,  when  contrasted  with  any  of  the 
plain  declarations  of  Scripture  which  express  the  senti- 
ment, "  Why  call  ye  me,  Lord,  Lord,  and  do  not  the 
things  which  I  say  ?"* 

I  am  fully  satisfied  that  most  of  these  interpretations 
could  be  proved,  with  a  weight  of  evidence  which  it  would 
be  difiicvdt  to  resist,  to  be  founded  in  the  immutable  Rela- 
tion of  Analogy  which  subsists  by  creation  between  all 
natural  objects  and  certain  spiritual  coimterparts  ;  and 
that  all  of  them  might  be  demonstrated,  by  a  sufficiently 
extensive  collation  of  other  passages  of  Scripture,  to  be 
those  which,  in  the  Divine  Word,  every  where  belong  to 
these  symbols  :  but,  for  the  reason  stated  above,  we  leave 
them,  thus  nakedly  propounded,  for  the  lovei's  of  truth  to 
examine  for  themselves. 

4.  The  same  remark  will  be  applicable  to  the  explana- 
tion which  we  here  will  offer  on  some  of  the  circum- 
stances attending  the  Crucifixion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

It  is  usual  to  regard  the  circumstances  of  insult  and 
cruelty  which  marked  the  manner  in  which  Jesus  laid 
down  his  life,  as  affording  strong  marks  of  that  depravity 
and  corruption  of  the  human  heart,  which  could  excite 
any  who  called  themselves  men,  especially  any  who  be- 
lieved themselves  to  be  the  elect  people  of  God,  to  act 
with  such  savage  malice  towards  a  being,  who,  even  if 
not  acknowledged  to  be  God  incarnate,  must  be  venerated 
by  every  impartial  mind  as  the  most  unoffending,  most 
amiable,  most  beneficent,  most  perfect  of  men.  But  this 
view  of  the  subject,  though  just,  does  not  go  far  enough. 
Not  only  were  all  the  circumstances,  generally,  expressive 
of  this  deep  depravity,  but  every  thing  that  is  recorded, 

*  Luke  vi.  16, 


S68  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

even  to  the  most  minute,   has  a  distinct  spiritual  signifi- 
cation. 

All  Christians  admit,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  "  the 
Word  of  God,"*  which  is  the  same  thing  as  the  Divine 
Truth  itself;  whence  we  read  that  "  the  Word  was  made 
flesh. "f  It  was  also  shewn  in  our  last  Lecture,  that  wlien- 
ever  Jesus  himself  speaks  of  his  approaching  passion,  he 
speaks  of  it  as  being  to  be  suifered  by  "  the  Son  of  man  ;" 
because  the  "  Son  of  man"  is  a  title  always  applied  to  him 
in  reference  to  his  character  as  the  Divine  Truth  or  Word.| 
He  suffered  then  in  his  character  of  the  Word  ;  and  hence, 
by].*  all  the  indignities  to  which  he  submitted,  was  repre- 
sented the  manner  in  which  the  Word  was  treated  by  the 
Jewish  Church  in  its  state  of  utter  debasement  :  and,  in 
fact,  the  manner  in  which  the  Word  is  treated  in  every 
Church,  when  it  has  departed  from  every  thing  which 
gives  to  a  church  its  title  to  the  name.  The  Lord  was 
betrayed  by  Judas, §  because  Judas  represents  the  very 
lowest  principle  in  the  constitution  of  fallen  human  na- 
ture,— that  of  mere  selfishness, — that  which  is  identified  as 
man's  proper  own,  considered  as  exclusive  of  every  thing 
that  he  receives  from  God  :  and  as  this  principle  reigned 
with  the  Jewish  nation,  who  were  at  that  time  the  deposi- 
taries of  the  Word,  of  them,  also,  Judas  was  a  type.  The 
chief  priests  and  elders,  being  the  leading  characters  of  the 
Jewish  church,  may  be  viewed  as  personifying  its  ruling 
sentiments  in  regard  to  charity  and  faith  ;  and  these  being 
contrary  to  the  love  of  God  and  to  all  genuine  faith,  and 
thus  such  as  reject  and  destroy  the  truth  of  the  AVord,  it 
was  by  the  chief  priests  and  elders  that  the  Son  of  man 
was  apprehended  and  first  condemned ;j|  and  his  being*  after- 
wards condemned  by  Pilate,  who  was  a  gentile,  at  their 
accusation  and  instigation,1f  shews  how  the  Word  is  reject- 

-  Kev.  xix.  i;5.  I  John  i.  II  ^  P.  233.  §  Matt.  'xx\i.  47.  ||  Mail.  xxvi. 
47,66.     U  Ch.  x-wii.  12. 'W. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    AbSI  RTED,    &.C.  359 

ed  by  those  who  do  not  profess  to  belong  to  the  church, 
but  merely  to  follow  the  law  of  nature,  because  they  re- 
ceive their  ideas  of  it  from  the  misrepresentations  of  those 
who  call  themselves  the  church,  and  whom  they  regard  as 
the  proper  judiies  of  such  a  subject  :*  as,  also,  they  whose 
minds  are  not  pre-occupied  with  the  false  doctrines  of  a 
corrupt  churcii  see  many  tilings  by  the  light  of  nature 
which  are  in  agreement  Avith  the  truth  of  the  Word  ;  and 
as  they,  likewise,  are  aUvays  loud  in  their  professions  of 
regard  for  the  truth  abstractedly  ;  therefore  Pilate  had 
such  strong  misgivings  on  the  occasion.  The  Lord's  being 
scourged  and  smitten  on  the  head  m  ith  a  reed,f  were  exact 
figures  of  the  treatment  which  the  Word  receives  from 
those  who  reject  it  :  and  as  a  crown  is  an  emblem  of  wis- 
dom, and  thorns  of  pernicious  false  sentiments,  his  being 
crowned  with  thorns:}:  expressively  symbolized  the  manner 
in  which  the  wisdom  of  the  Word  is  falsified  and  pervert- 
ed. The  dividing  of  his  outer  garments  into  foiu'  parts 
among  the  soldiers§  was  indicative  of  the  complete  dissipa- 
tion of  the  truths  of  the  letter  of  the  Word  ;  but  the  pre- 
serving of  his  vesture  or  inner  garment  entire,  represented 
that  its  spiritual  sense  could  not  be  thus  injured,  being 
sheltered  from  common  observation;  and  their  casting  lots 
for  it,  afforded  an  apt  image  of  the  conjecture  and  debate 
of  which  the  spiritual  sense,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing, 
the  truth  itself,  becomes  tiie  subject,  when  all  right  under- 
standing of  the  Word  is  lost.  Without  some  such  mean- 
ing, is  it  reasonable  to  suppose  that  such,  in  themselves, 
trivial  circumstances,  would  have  been  recorded?  and  not 
only  so,  but  that  they  should  long  before  have  been  ex- 
pressly foretold  ?i|  Their  crucifying  him  fully  expressed 
that  the  church  had  profaned  and  destroyed  the  whole  of 
the  Word.     Their  offering  him  vinegar  to  drink  mingled 

*  John  xviii.  35.       t  Matr.  xxvii.Sti.  o'-^-       1  Ver.  29.       §   J..lin  xix.  23,  24. 
II  Ps.  xxii.  IS. 


S50  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

with  gall,*  exhibited,  by  an  apt  symbol,  that  all  their  ideas 
of  truth  were  false,  all  the  truths  they  possessed  being  fal- 
sified from  the  influence  of  their  depraved  lusts;  truth  fal- 
sified bearing  the  same  relation  to  genuine  truth  as  vinegar 
does  to  Avine,  and  its  mixture  with  gall  implying  defilement 
from  grievous  evils;  wherefore  he  would  not  drink  it:  but 
afterwards,  when,  on  occasion  of  his  saying  "  I  thirst," 
they  gave  him  simple  vinegar,  the  sponge  containing  it  be- 
ing put  upon  hyssop,  he  received  it  ;f  because  this  repre- 
sented such  erroneous  sentiments  as  are  grounded,  not  in 
evil  and  the  intentional  perversion  of  truth,  but  in  igno- 
rance, such  as  prevailed  among  the  gentiles,  who  after- 
wards were  taken  to  form  the  church  instead  of  the  Jews'. 
— hyssop,  and  other  bitter  herbs,  were  symbolic  of  jmrifica- 
tion  :  the  Lord's  thirst  is  his  ardent  desire  for  the  salvation 
of  mankind,  through  their  recejition  of  his  life-giving 
Word. 

This  explanation  is  applied  to  the  treatment  of  the  Lord 
and  his  Word  by  the  Jewish  Church:  but  the  circumstances 
will  equally  suit  the  manner  in  which  he  is  treated  by 
mankind  individually,  whose  selfish  nature  thus  treats  the 
Lord  and  his  Woid  at  all  times.  Indeed,  as  the  Jewish 
Church,  which  was  entirely  a  representative  one,  repre- 
sents, in  its  state  of  integrity,  the  true  church  of  the  Lord, 
both  generally,  and  as  formed  in  the  heart  of  the  individu- 
al who  professes  to  belong  to  it  ;  so  in  its  state  of  perver- 
sion it  was  symbolic  of  the  mere  selfish  nature  of  man  ; 
and  its  treatment  of  the  Lord  depicts  the  manner  in  which 
man  regards  the  Lord,  and  the  divine  truths  of  his  Word, 
when  he  views  them  under  the  influence  of  his  selfish  na- 
ture alone. 

Now  whether  or  not,  without  further  explanation,  the 
circumstances  we  have  noticed  may  be  seen  to  bear  the 
exact  signification  which  has  been   offered,   is  probably 


*  Mm.  xxvii.  34.  t  John  xix.  i33,  29,  30. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  SGI 

doubtful  ;  yet  that  they  certainly  carry  some  signification, 
and  are  recorded  to  intimate  some  spiritual  instruction,  is 
surely  obvious  upon  the  face  of  tliem.  To  me,  at  least, 
after  the  most  impartial  examination  that  I  am  able  to  give 
the  subject,  it  appears  so  evident,  that,  without  the  slight- 
est wish  to  think  harshly  of  those  who  entertain  the  oppo- 
site opinion,  I  can  only  impute  the  existence  of  an  opposite 
opinion  to  the  want  of  a  sufficiently  careful  and  candid  ex- 
amination. To  deny  the  spiritual  import  of  this  part  of 
the  Word  of  God  after  serious  consideration,  appears  to 
me  to  demand,  not  merely  a  large  share  of  the  negative 
principle  of  incredulity,  but  of  a  positive  principle  of  cre- 
dulity ;  of  a  principle  that  can  believe  any  inconsistency, 
provided  it  be  requisite  to  support  one  species  of  consis- 
tency ; — that  which  assumes,  prior  to  the  examination  of 
evidence,  that  nothing  spiritual  can  be  contained  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  which  is  determined  to  maintain  this  as- 
sumption, let  the  pi'esumptions  to  the  contrary  become 
ever  so  numerous  and  conclusive.  Even  Pilate  could  lis- 
ten, with  respect,  to  the  Lord's  avowal,  that  he  was  a 
king  whose  kingdom  was  not  of  this  world  ;  and  to  his 
declaration,  that  "every  one  that  is  of  the  truth  heareth 
his  voice  :"*^  and  surely  every  thing  that  is  recorded,  by 
the  pen  of  inspiration,  of  the  actions  or  treatment  of  such 
a  king,  must  relate  to  him  as  the  king  of  tliis  spiritual 
kingdom,  and  must  either  treat,  directly,  of  the  kingdom 
which  is  not  of  this  world,  or  of  the  manner  in  which  it  is 
received  among  men.  In  such  persons  as  Pilate  is  a  type 
of,  it  might  not  be  inconsistent  to  refuse  to  listen  to  such  a 
plea  ;  but  when  those  who  profess  to  be  the  true  subjects 
of  "  the  King  of  the  Jews"  would  confine  the  circum- 
stances of  his  history  to  this  world  only,  do  they  not  allow 
the  supremacy  of  the  worldly  principle  rather  than  of  the 
heavenly  one,  and  partake  of  the  spirit  which  exclaimed, 


*  John  xviii.  36,  37. 

46 


562  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     Of 

"  We  have  no  king  but  Caesar  ?"*  As  is  observed  in  an- 
other part  of  this  work  ;f  if  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  had  re- 
ally a  divine  nature  within  him,  then  not  only  must  all  his 
words,  but  all  his  actions  too,  have  flowed  according  to 
the  order  in  which  divine  and  spiritual  things  descend  into 
natural,  and  thus  must  have  been  expressions  of  spiritual 
and  divine  ideas  :  nor  could  any  thing  be  done  to  him,  or 
suffered  by  him,  without  being  brought  within  the  same 
order  :  and  thus,  in  every  thing  recorded  of  him,  weighty 
instruction  must  be  included,  though  conveyed  by  actions 
instead  of  words.  To  admit  that  the  record  of  these  trans- 
actions is  the  Word  of  God,  is  to  affirm  a  truth;  but  to  in- 
sist that  it  is  to  be  understood  according  to  the  letter  alone, 
is,  (may  I  be  pardoned  for  the  assertion  ?)  to  falsify  that 
truth  :  assuredly,  it  is  turning  the  wint  into  vinegar  :  but 
"whether  the  vinegar  thus  produced  be  that  mingled  with 
gall,  or  that  corrected  with  hyssop,  depends  upon  the  in- 
ward disposition  of  the  parties  preparing  it,  and  their 
means  of  information. 

IV.  Nearly  related  to  those  parts  of  the  Word  of  God 
which,  in  their  form,  are  strictly  historical,  are  those  which 
detail  the  rituals  of  the  Ceremonial  Law  :  and  that  these 
were  intended  to  shadow  out  spiritual  realities,  is  so  obvi- 
ous a  truth,  that  it  has  generally  been  received  among 
Christians  as  unquestionable  : — unquestionable  it  certainly 
is,  by  all  who  believe  that  the  Apostle  Paul  had  any  know- 
ledge of  the  subject,  since  his  declarations  respecting  it  are 
too  positive  to  be  by  any  means  evaded.  Indeed,  an  en- 
larged consideration  of  this  part  of  our  subject,  where  proof 
would  be  so  easy,  would  perhaps,  more  directly  than  any 
thing  else,  afford  certain  evidence  of  the  spiritual  nature 
of  the  Word  of  God.  But  it  seems  scarcely  necessary  to 
go  into  the  demonstration  of  a  fact,  which  every  Christian 

«  Ch,  xix.  15.  1    App.  No  II. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  S6$ 

is  obliged  to  believe  by  the  authoritative  documents  of  his 
faith;  and  which  even  the  Deist  must  admit  to  be  the  only- 
rational  account  of  the  origin  of  ceremonial  worship.  Cer- 
tain it  is,  that,  in  the  early  ages  of  the  world,  ceremonial 
worship  was  practised,  if  not  by  all,  by  the  most  enlight- 
ened and  polished  nations  :  and  can  any  maintain  such  a 
paradox  as  to  affirm,  that  this  general  consent  of  the  most 
intelligent  of  mankind  in  the  use  of  such  worship,  had  no 
origin  but  chance  ?  Is  it  not  far  more  reasonable  to  be- 
lieve, that  it  had  some  reasonable  foundation?  And  what 
so  reasonable  as  to  conclude,  that  because  the  primeval  in- 
habitants of  the  globe  had  an  intuitive  perception  of  the 
relation  of  Analogy  existing  from  creation  between  spiritu- 
al objects  and  natural,  men  at  length  began  to  assist  their 
conceptions  of  the  former  by  appropriate  applications  of 
the  latter  ? 

1.  That  such  was  the  origin,  in  particular,  of  the  use  of 
Sacrifices  in  worship,  must,  we  should  apprehend,  at  least 
appear  highly  probable,  from  the  remarks  which  we  have 
advanced  upon  the  subject  in  our  consideration  of  Jeph- 
thah's  vow,  where  we  anticipated  most  of  what  we  think 
necessary  to  offer  respecting  it.*  It  is  perfectly  evident, 
from  various  parts  of  Scripture,  that  the  sacrifices  offered 
upon  the  altar,  as  also  the  shew-bread  set  out  upon  the  ta- 
ble in  the  sanctuary,  were  considered,  strange  as  it  may 
appear  to  our  ideas,  as  food  offered  to  the  Divine  Majesty. 
Indeed,  whatever  was  put  upon  the  altar,  whether  consist- 
ing of  flesh  or  flour,  is  frequently  called,  in  one  word, 
bread  ;  according  to  the  known  use  of  the  Hebrew  lan- 
guage, which  often  uses  the  term  bread  for  food  in  general. 
Hence  it  is  expressly  said  of  the  priests,  that  they  offered, 
and  also  themselves  partook  of,  the  bread  of  God.f     So  the 

*  Page  338 — 346.  See  also  the  remarks  on  the  signification  of  animals  at 
p.  109,  &c.  and  208,  &c.  <  Lev.  xxi.  6,  8, 17,  21,  22 ;.  Ch.  xxii.  25. 


364  PLENART     INSPIRATION     OF 

parts  of  the  lamb  or  goat  for  the  peace-offering  which  were 
consumed  upon  the  altar,  are  explicitly  called  by  our  trans- 
lators, "  the  food  of  the   offering  made   by   fire  unto  the 
Lord  ;"  and  "  the  food  of  the  offering  made  by  fife  for  a 
sweet  savour  :"*  and  the  idea  of  the  agreeable  scent  of  roast- 
ed food,  is  applied  to  the   whole  burnt-offerings,  whether 
of  bullocks,  sheep,  or  doves,  each  of  which  is  called  "  an 
offering  made  by  fire,  of  a  siceet  savour,  unto  the  Lord  :"f 
as  also  are  the  offerings  of  flour,  baked  or  unbaked.^     The 
same  ideas  are  used  by  Jehovah  himself,  when,  reproach- 
ing by  the  prophet  the  Israelites  for  their  "  abominations," 
he  says,  "jYe   have   brought  strangers,  uncircumcised  in 
heart  and  uncircumcised  in  flesh,  to  be  in  my  sanctuary  to 
pollute  it,  even  my  house,   when  ye  offer  my  bread,  the  fat 
and  the  blood  ;"§  and  by  another  prophet,  still  more  parti- 
cularly, the   same  Divine    Speaker    says,    "  Ye   offer  pol- 
luted bread  upon  mine  altar  ;  and  ye  say,  Wherein  have  we 
polluted  thee  ?     In  that   ye   say.  The  table  of  the  Lord  is 
contemptible.     And  if  ye  offer   the  blind  for  sacrifce,  is  it 
not  evil?  and  if  ye  offer  the  lame  and  sick,  is  it  not  evil? — 
But   ye  have  profaned   it,  in  that   ye  say.  The  table  of  the 
Lord  is  polluted,  and   the   fruit   thereof,  even  his  meat,  is 
contemptible. "II     It  is  impossible  for  any   fact  to  be  more 
explicitly  stated  :   the  altar  is  considered,  by  God  himself, 
as  his  table,  and  the  things  offered  upon  it  as  his  meat.     For 
what  purpose  then  was  meat  thus  presented  to  him  ?     The 
natural  idea  evidently   is,  to   satisfy   the   divine  hunger. 
But  is  the  divine  hunger  such  as  can  feed  upon  the  things 
burnt  upon   the  altar  themselves  ?     He  himself  declares 
plainly,  that  if  he   were  subject  to  such  hunger,  he  would 
not  be  dependent  upon  man  for  satisfying  it  :    "  If  I  were 
hungry.  I  would  not  tell  thee  :  for  the   world  is  mine,  and 
the  fulness  thereof:    Will  I  eat  the  flesh  of  bulls,  or  drink 


'  Cli.  iii.  IJ,  16.        t  Ch.  i.  9,  13,  17.        |  Ch.  ii.  2,  9.        §    Ezek.  .xliv.  7. 
8  Matt.*.  7,  8,  12. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  S65 

the  blood  of  goats  ?"*  What  else  then  is  man  to  present, 
^vhich  Deity  can  appetite  ?  Himself,  continuing  tlie  same 
earnest  address,  informs  us:  "  OJj'er  unto  God  thanksgiving, 
and  pay  thy  vows  unto  the  Most  High  ;  and  call  upon  me  in 
the  day  of  trouble:  I  will  deliver  thee,  and  thou  shalt  glo- 
rify me."f  How  evident  then  is  it,  that  the  flesh  of  bulls 
and  the  blood  of  goats,  with  the  other  elements  of  sacrifi- 
cial worship,  are  the  symbols  of  the  worship  of  thanksgiv- 
ing, vows,  and  invocation  ;  which,  again,  are  only  sincere 
as  they  proceed  from  love,  charity,  and  faith  ;  and  thus 
that,  properly,  the  tilings  presented  upon  the  altar  were 
natural  images,  answering,  by  a  just  analocy,  to  all  the 
spiritual  graces,  by  and  from  which  an  acceptai^le  worship 
can  be  offered  to  the  Most  High  !  What  then  can  the  di- 
vine hunger  be,  which  requires  to  be  fed  with  such  food  as 
this  ?  What,  but,  like  the  thirst  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  noticed 
above,  the  ardent  desire  with  which  Divine  Love  yearns  for 
man's  salvation,  and  which  is  satisfied  in  proportion  as 
man  receives  from  God  the  graces  which  bring  salvation  ; 
for  the  obtaining  of  which  the  spiritual  worship  of  God  is 
an  indispensable  medium  ;  and  of  the  pos^session  of  which, 
such  worship  as  gratefully  ascribes  them  all  to  him,  is  both 
a  consequence  and  a  sign  ?  The  spiritual  idea  of  hunger 
is  plainly  intimated,  when  the  Lord  sajs,  "  Blessed  are 
they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness. '''\.  By  a  clear 
analogy,  as  natural  hunger  is  an  appetite  for  food,  and  na- 
tural thirst  an  appetite  for  drink,  so  sj)iritual  hunger  is  a 
desire  for  good,  and  sj)iritual  thir:t  a  desire  for  truth;  and 
divine  hunger  and  thirst  can  be  no  other  than  the  Lord's 
desire,  that  the  goodness  and  truth  of  which  he  is  the  Au- 
tlior  might  find  an  abode  in  tlie  heart  and  mind  of  man, 
and  be  returned  him  again  in  the  ascriptions  of  genuine 
worship. 

*  Ps.  I.  12,  13.  t  Ver.  14.  lo.  t  Mm.  v.  6. 


566  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

2.  Nearly  related  to  the  worship  of  the  Lord  by  the 
sacrifice  of  animals,  and  to  the  precepts  respecting  the 
species  of  animals  which  might  be  employed  in  such  wor- 
ship, is  the  law  delivered  in  Leviticus  xi.  and  Deut.  xiv. 
relating  to  the  species  of  animals  which  might  or  might 
not  be  used  as  articles  of  food.  If,  as  seems  so  evident, 
all  living  creatures  are  forms  expressive  of  particular 
affections  and  modes  of  thinking  that  live  in  the  human 
breast  ;  and  if  the  nourishment  of  the  body  answers  by  an 
exact  analogy  to  the  nourishment  of  the  mind  ;  it  cannot 
be  extraordinary,  that,  under  a  representative  dispensa- 
tion, precise  directions  should  be  given  upon  this  subject. 
By  this  law  then,  in  general,  is  taught,  how  careful  man 
should  be  respecting  what  sort  of  affections  he  appropriates 
in  his  will,  and  what  sort  of  sentiments  he  adopts  in  his 
understanding  :  and  the  rules  laid  down  for  distinguishing 
the  unclean  creatures  from  the  clean,  delineate  the  criteria 
for  discriminating  between  evil  affections  and  good  ones, 
mischievous  sentiments  and  beneficial.  As,  however,  this 
would  open  to  us  a  very  extensive  field  of  investigation, 
this  slight  notice  of  it  must  suffice. 

3.  But  under  the  Israelitish  dispensation  there  were 
other  ceremonial  observances,  beside  those  which  related 
either  to  the  bread  of  God  or  to  the  food  of  man.  One  of 
the  most  remarkable  of  these  was  the  vow  of  the  Nazarite, 
the  law  of  which  is  prescribed  in  Num.  vi.  The  chief 
regulations  of  it  were,  that  the  subject  of  the  vow,  during 
its  continuance,  was  to  drink  no  wine,  "  and  eat  nothing 
that  is  made  of  the  vine-tree,  from  the  kernels  even  to  the 
husk  ;"  and  no  razor  was  to  come  upon  his  head.  At  the 
termination  of  the  period  for  which  he  was  set  apart,  the 
length  of  which  is  not  defined,  he  was  to  offer  a  burnt- 
offering,  a  sin-offering,  a  peace-offering,  a  meat-offering, 
and  a  drink-offering  ;  and  he  was  then  to  shave  his  head, 
and  put  the  hair  in  the  fire  under  the  sacrifice  of  the  peace- 


THE    scriptOres   ASSKUTED,    &.C.  367 

offering  :  after  which  he  was  at  liberty  to  drink  wine. 
Both  Samson  and  Samuel  were  Nazarites  for  life,  by  ap- 
pointment and  dedication  before  they  were  born  ;*  and 
from  the  growth  of  his  hair  in  tiiis  consecrated  state,  the 
former  derived  his  great  strength. f  Surely,  then,  the 
Scriptures  must  mean  us  to  infer,  tliat  the  Nazariteship 
was  representative  of  a  state  eminently  holy  ;  and  what 
that  state  is,  the  circumstances,  considered  as  speaking  the 
language  of  Analogy,  very  clearly  designate. 

There  are  in  the  Scriptures  numerous  intimations  re- 
specting two  sorts  of  characters  belonging  to  the  church, 
— those  who  act  more  under  the  influence  of  good  or  love, 
and  those  who  act  more  under  the  influence  of  truth  or 
faith.  The  former  apply  the  commandments  of  tlie  Word 
immediately  to  life  and  practice,  without  thinking  or  rea- 
soning upon  them  ;  and  they  hence  acquire  an  intuitive 
perception  of  truth,  which  the  Lord  refers  to  when  he 
says,  "  Let  your  communication  be  Yea,  yea,  Nay,  nay  : 
for  whatsoever  is  more  than  these  cometh  of  evil  :"|  the 
latter  take  too  much  pleasure  in  the  "  whatsoever  is  more 
than  these,"  to  be  satisfied  with  so  short  a  road  to  wis- 
dom :  they  love  the  exercise  of  thought  and  reasoning  : 
they  scarcely  regard  truth  itself  as  valuable,  but  as  it  is  the 
object  of  these  faculties  :  they  have,  however,  an  ardent 
love  of  truth  ;  but  their  love  of  goodness  is  rather  a  re- 
gard to  what  they  see  to  be  the  dictates  of  truth.  Now 
of  truth,  and  of  the  good  which  is  the  result  of  a  love  of 
truth,  the  vine  and  its  productions  are,  in  the  Word,  emi- 
nent types  ;  as  are  the  olive  and  its  products  of  the  higher 
love  of  good.  That  they  who  would  obtain  the  proper 
love  of  good,  should  aim  at  it  at  once,  and  not  amuse 
themselves  too  far  with  the  lower  love  of  truth,  is  then 
what  is  meant  by  the  prohibition  to  the  Nazarites  of  the 
use  of  wine  or  the  other  products  of  the  vine  :  it  is,  in 


Jud.  xiii.  5,  7.     1  San*,  i.  11.  t  Jud.  xvi.  17.  J  Matt.  v.  37. 


368  PLENARY     IKSPinATIO.X     OF 

fact,  the  same  precept  as  is  delivered  by  Jesus  Christ  in 
plainer  terms,  when  he  says,  "  Let  your  coininunication 
be  Yea,  yea  ;  Nay,  nay."  Nevertheless,  tliough  they  do 
not  make  truth  their  study,  they  enjoy,  by  virtue  of  their 
love  of  good,  an  intuitive  knowledge  of  all  trutli  ;  accord- 
ing to  that  other  divine  saying,  "  If  any  man  will  do 
[willeth  to  do]  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine  whe- 
ther it  be  of  God.'"*  They  luive,  on  every  occasion,  a 
perception  of  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  every  suggestion 
presented  to  them  ;  and  in  the  combats  of  temptation  they 
apply  their  Yea,  yea,  or  Nay,  nay,  with  a  power,  which 
they  who  are  in  evil  and  error,  and  all  the  tempting  forces, 
are  unable  to  resist.  Of  this  power  of  the  true  Nazarite, 
the  extraordinary  strength  of  Samson  was  a  symbol.  And 
as  the  greatest  power  of  truth  lies  in  its  lowest  manifesta- 
tion— or  the  strength  of  Jehovah  is  in  the  clouds  ;f  and  as 
the  hair,  being  the  extreme  part  of  the  bodily  frame,  de- 
notes the  extreme  part  of  the  mental  constitution, — the 
ultimate  of  all, — the  immediate  seat  of  the  senses  and  cor- 
poreal appetites  ;  and  as  when  divine  goodness  and  truth 
possess  these  they  possess  the  whole  man, — and  they  do 
possess  even  these  with  those  who  are  principled  in  the 
proper  love  of  good  : — therefore  the  Nazaritcs  were  com- 
manded not  to  cut  their  hair  ;  and  Samson  declared  that 
in  his  hair  his  great  strength  resided.  As  they  who  have 
persevered  the  full  period  in  the  kind  of  life  which  this 
vow  symbolizes,  become  regenerate  through  all  their 
mind,  and  every  principle  of  their  constitution  at  length 
spontaneously  rises  in  the  worship  of  the  Lord  ;  this  was 
represented  by  the  Nazarite's  offering,  when  the  days  of 
his  separation  were  fulfilled,  sacrifices  of  all  the  kinds 
directed  by  tlie  Levitical  law.  His  then  consuming  his 
hair  in  the  fire  of  the  altar,  was  expressive  of  the  com- 
plete renewal  of  the  very  ultimate  principle  of  his  consti- 

*  John  vii.  17.  t  See  App.  No.  IV. 


THE   scRiPTUucs  assi:rt»;d,  Sic.  369 

tution,  of  which  the  hair  is  the  type,  so  that  tliere  remains 
no  longer  any  thing  of  self  in  it,  but  the  whole  is  dedicat- 
ed to  the  Lord.  And  his  being  at  liberty  afterwards  to 
drink  w^lne,  signifies,  that  all  the  recreation  and  delight 
that  truth  can  afford  are  then  free  to  him  also  ;  as  to  him 
who  seeks  fust  the  kingdmn  of  God  and  his  righteousness y  all 
inferior  things  are  given  in  addition.*. ^  ■: .■    ^. 

These  are  v^ery  holy  and  interior  su'bjects  ;  and,  for  that 
very  reason,  it  is  to  be  expected  tliat  they  will  only  excite 
the  scorn  of  those,  (should  any  of  that  character  give  them 
a  moment's  notice,)  wi.o  regard  nothing  but  what  their 
corporeal  senses  dictate.  We  are  warned  by  divine  au- 
thority of  the  consequences  of  presenting  the  holy  things 
of  celestial  good  to  dogs,  and  the  pure  pearls  of  spiritual 
truth  to  swine.  Probably,  also,  to  many  of  better  dispo- 
sitions, but  who  raise  their  views  with  reluctance  above 
the  precincts  of  nature,  such  matters  will  ajjpear  too  re- 
mote from  ordinary  apprehension  to  deserve  much  atten- 
tion ;  they  will  regard  them,  as  the  rustic  regards  the 
nebulas  in  the  galaxy  of  heaven, — as  films  not  more  impor- 
tant than  those  formed  by  the  exhalations  of  the  marsh  ; 
'whilst  by  the  votary  of  true  science  they  are  contemjilated 
w^ith  delight  mixed  with  awe,  and  are  regarded,  not  mere- 
ly as  suns,  but  as  systems  of  suns,  dispensing  the  beams  of 
light  and  life  to  numberless  unseen  worlds.  The  truth  of 
the  doctrine  deduced  from  this  mysterious  ceremony, 
whether  it  be  seen  to  be  taught  by  the  ceremony  or  not, 
may,  however,  be  readily  appreciated.  Assuredly,  every 
breast  that  has  ever  glowed  with  one  touch  of  pure,  disin- 
terested affection, — which  has  ever  been  warmed  with  one 
feeling  of  which  the  high  name  of  goodness  may  justly  be 
predicated, — must  have  felt  how,  when  placed  in  contrast, 
the  coruscations  of  the  brightest  intellect,  the  most  exalted 

*  Matt.  vi.  33.     The  game  subject   is   illtisliHted   hy   the  obedierne   ni'  llie 
Rechabifes :  Jcr.  xxxv. 

47 


370  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

views  of  truth,  admirable  and  excellent  as  tlie?e,  also, 
neverthelers  are,  sink  into  sliade.  He  will  naturally  then 
expect,  that  of  a  fact  so  important,  some  decided  intima- 
tions would  be  given  in  a  book  which  is  really  the  Word 
of  God  ;  and  if  he  knows  that  the  Word  of  God  must 
necessarily  be  written  by  the  aid  *of  natural  images  ;  and 
i^  aware,  also,  that  the  Jewish  nation  was  selected  for  the 
purpose  of  representing  heavenly  things  by  symbolic  ac- 
tions ;  he  will  expect  to  find  the  subject  somewhere  shad- 
owed out  among  the  rituals  of  their  law.  When  thus  pre- 
pared, if  possessed,  in  addition,  of  some  acquaintance  with 
the  lanfjuage  of  Analogies,  he  will  easily  recognise  a  beau- 
tiful  representation  of  it  in  the  Law  of  the  Nazarite. 

4.  Finally,  we  are  to  notice  the  ceremonial  observances 
which  are  retained  among  Christians  ;  and  that  some  are 
retained,  by  divine  appointment,  under  the  spiiitual  dis- 
pensation of  the  gospel,  is  an  argument,  surely,  that  spirit- 
ual things  are  included  in  them  ;  and,  by  consequence, 
that  spiritual  things  were  represented  in  the  ceremonies 
of  the  Jewish  Church,  of  which  they  are  a  remnant  and 
epitome. 

There  are  two  things  to  which  all  the  divine  command- 
ments relate,  and  to  which  they  may  be  reduced  :  to  the 
same  two  tilings  all  the  ordinances  of  the  Levitical  law 
necessarily  had  reference  :  and  these  are,  purification  from 
the  evil  and  false  tendencies  of  man's  selfish  nature,  and 
the  appropriation  and  practice,  in  tJicir  stead,  of  tlie  prin- 
ciples and  sentiments  of  goodness  and  truth.  Such,  ac- 
cordingly, are  the  order  and  substance  of  the  summaries 
of  religion  occasionally  given  in  the  Divine  Word  :  "  Dc^ 
pari  from  evil^  and  do  good  :"*  "  Cease  to  do  evil ;  learn  to  do 
wcZZ."f  These  two  things  then,  in  a  general  way,  are 
pointed  at  in  the  ordinances  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's 

"  Ps.  sxxiv.  14.  t  Isa.  i.  16.  17. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  371 

supper  :  and  thus  in  them  is  concenti^ated  the  substance  of 
all  the  rituals  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  and  of  all  the 
precepts  of  the  Word  of  God.  On  how  numerous  occa- 
sions washings  were  prescribed  under  the  Levitical  law,  is 
well  known  to  all  who  have  examined  it  :  almost  every 
ceremony,  was  to  be  accompanied  with  washing  :  of  all 
these  different  ablutions  then  the  ordinance  of  baptism  was 
appointed  as  an  epitome.  On  how  many  occasions,  also, 
sacrifices  were  to  be  offered,  and  how  various  were  the 
kinds  of  them,  are  equally  well  known  :  instead  then  of 
"  the  flesh  of  bulls  and  the  blood  of  goats,"  and  of  all  the 
other  sacrifices,  are  now  substituted,  as  the  substance  of 
them  all,  the  flesh  and  blood  of  the  Son  of  man  ;  and  as 
the  former  were  all  called,  in  one  word,  the  bread  of  God, 
and  were  accompanied  with  libations  of  wine  ;  so  of  these, 
now,  bread  and  wine  are  taken  as  the  symbols. 

Now  the  foundation   of  these  institutions  in  the  univer- 
sal principle,  that  spiritual  things   may  be  adequately  re- 
presented by  natural  images,  there  being,  from  the  order 
of  creation,  a  fixed  Relation  of  Analogy  between  the  one 
and  the  other,  is,  one  would  think,  too  obvious  to  be  de- 
nied ;  and  the  meaning  of  them,  when  decyphered  by  that 
principle,  is,  one  might  apprehend,  too  clear  to  be  disput- 
ed.    Between  the  washing   of  the  person  from  its  impuri- 
ties, and  the  purification  of  the  spirit  from  its  defilements, 
the  analogy  is  seen  at  once  :  and  the  water,   which    is  the 
medium  of  effecting  the  one,  is  the  appropriate  symbol   of 
the  truth,  which  is  the  agent  in  accomplishing  the  other. 
For  Iiovv  is  man  ever  led  to  desist  from  the  evil  and  error 
of  his  ways,  but  by  listening  to  the  commands  and  exhor- 
tations of  Divine  Truth  ^  Of  Divine  Truth,  regarded,  not 
as  to  its  power  of  enlightening  the  mind,  but  of  purifying 
it,  water  is,  assuredly,   a  most  manifest  image  ;  as  it  also 
is,  when  regarded  as  the  element  of  di'inking,   of  Divine 
Truth  viewed  as   contributing  to  spiritual  nourishment. 
Baptism  then  was  instituted,  not,  as  some  have  strangely 


372  PLENARY    INSPIRATIO'    OF 

supposed,  as  conferring  regeneration,  but  as  a  sign  of  it. 
It  is  submitted  to  as  a  pledge,  that  the  party  undergoing  it 
engages  to  yield  his  mind  and  life  to  the  purifying  disci- 
pline of  the  truth  ;  and  no  doubt  it  is  accompanied  with  a 
divine  influence,  conferring  on  him,  more  fully,  the  ability 
of  acting  in  conformity  with  his  engagement. 

But  perhaps  there  is  no  instance  in  which  the  power   of 
the  Science  of  Analogies  in  explaining  the  sacred  mysteries 
of  the  Word  of  God  is  more  conspicuous,  than  in  the  or- 
dinance of  the  Lord's  supper.     This  is  a  subject  which  has 
involved   the  Christian  world   in  endless  disputes.     One 
party  maintains  that  the  bread  and  wine,  when  consecrat- 
ed, do  actually  become,  by  a  real  transubstantiation,  the 
body  and  blood  of  the  Lord  :  and  if  we  confine  ourselves 
to  the  literal  sense  of  the   Lord's  words  on  instituting  the 
rite, — "  This  is  my  body  ; — This  is  my  blood  ;"* — we 
shall  be  forced  to  confess  that  this  view  is  correct.     The 
other  party  maintains,   that,   notwithstanding  the   Lord's 
words  literally  affirm  it,  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation 
cannot  be  true,  because  it  supposes  an   impossibility  :  and 
if  we  consult  the  suggestions  of  reason,  we  must  allow  that 
this  is  undeniable.     But  when  we  are   apprised  that  the 
Lord,  for  the  expression  of  spiritual  and  divine  ideas,  con- 
stantly employed  natural  images  answering  to  them  by  an 
exact  analogy,  the  difference  is  reconciled  at  once.     Flesh 
and  blood,  being  the  two  chief  elements  of  man's  corpo- 
real frame,  must  denote,  when  predicated  of  a  Divine  Per- 
son, the  two  first  Essentials   of  the   Divine  Nature,  which 
are,  love  and  wisdom,  or  goodness  and  truth.     Bread  and 
wine,  as  the  main  articles  by  which  the  body  is  nourished, 
must  have  the  same  signification.     We  learn  then,  that  by 
receiving  the  bread  and  wine  in  the  Holy  Supper,  are 
represented  the  reception  and  appropriation   in  the  mind 
of  love  and  wisdom  communicated  by  the  Lord  ;  which 

*  JMark  xiv.  22,  24. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &iC.  573 

have  the  same  effect  in  nourishing  and  preserving  our 
souls  as  the  bread  and  wine  have  in  nourishing  and  pre- 
servino[  our  bodies.  And  doubtless  the  rite  itself  was  in- 
stituted,  because,  in  properly  corresponding  externals,  in- 
ternals are  piesent  with  greater  power  than  without  thein  ; 
and  thus  to  the  sincere  communicant  who  ascribes  all  good 
to  the  Lord  as  its  Author,  he  himself,  with  his  divine 
graces  of  love  and  wisdom,  is  tlien  more  near  than  at  oili- 
er times,  imparting  that  heavenly  nourishment  on  which 
depends  the  life  of  his  soul. 

But  let  this  be  as  it  may  :  whether  or  not  any  heavenly 
influences  are  present  at  the  ordinances  of  Baptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper  ;  it  seems  impossible  to  doubt  that  such 
graces  as  we  have  described  are  intended  to  be  represented 
by  those  ordinances  :  In  them,  therefore,  we  assuredly 
have  conclusive  evidence,  that  the  Word  of  God  is  written 
according  to  the  laws  of  that  Analogy  which  so  clearly 
connects  together  the  objects  of  spirit  and  of  nattire, — the 
intellectual  and  moral  with  the  physical  and  material 
world — and  that  this  Analogy  affords  the  Rule  by  which 
the  genuine  import  of  tlie  Word  of  God  may  be  decy- 
phered. 

Here  then  we  conclude  our  Proofs  and  Illustrations  of 
the  applicabdity  of  the  Science  of  Analogies  as  a  Ride  for 
the  interpretation  of  the  Word  of  God  :  and  though  I  am 
aware  that  the  instances  selected  have  not  been  elucidated 
with  half  the  strength  and  clearness  which  the  principle 
admits  ;  yet  amid  all  the  defects  of  the  advocate,  it  can 
hardly,  I  trust,  be  denied,  that  from  most  of  the  examples 
such  a  degree  of  liglit  has  lieen  elicited,  as  to  render  it 
morally  certain  that  the  principle  is  correct. 

But  to  draw  from  these  elucidations  the  conclusion 
which  they  are  intended  to  support,  we  mu;;t  still  remem- 
ber the  principles  laid  down  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourth 
Lecture,  on  the  character  which   must  nccessarilv   belong 


Sl% 


PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 


to  the  Divine  Style  of  Writing.  "  If,  as  there  stated,  in  a 
written  revelation  from  God  the  Divine  Truth  must  clothe 
itself  with  ideas  and  images  taken  from  the^vorld  of  nature 
before  it  could  be  presented  to  man  ;  and  if  the  Divine 
Style  of  Writing  must  thus  follow  the  Law  of  that  Analo- 
gy, which,  as  was  shewn  in  the  third  Lecture,  iudissolubly 
connects  natural  ol:>jects  and  ideas  with  such  as  are  spirit- 
tial  and  divine  ; — it  will  follow,  that  the  spiritual  and 
divine  wisdom  which  such  a  revelation  must  contain  with- 
in it,  could  only  be  understood  by  a  right  application  of  this 
Law.  And  if  on  an  application  of  this  Law  to  the  books 
called  the  Holy  Scriptures,  it  should  be  found  that  they 
exhibit  a  coherent  series  of  spiritual  and  divine  instruc- 
tion ;  it  will  follow,  further,  that  the  Scriptures  are  such 
a  revelation  of  Divine  Truth  presented  to  man  in  natural 
language  ;  that  they  are  the  Divine  Speech,  or  Divine 
Word,  wliich  lias  emanated  from  the  bosom  of  Deity,  and 
presents  itself  under  this  form  in  this  lowest  sphere  of 
creation."  AVe  have  now  tried  the  applicability  of  the 
Rule  to  all  the  species  of  composition  which  the  Sacred 
W^'itings  contain, — the  prophetical,  the  historical,  and  tJie 
perceptive,  (taking  o\ir  examples  of  the  last  from  the  pre- 
cepts relating  to  ceremonial  rites)  :  we  liave  found  that, 
when  decyphered  by  the  proposed  key,  a  coiierent  series 
of  spiritual  and  divine  instruction  every  where  appears  : 
we  have  a  right  then  to  infer,  that  the  Scriptures  actually 
are  composed  in  the  truly  Divine  Style  of  Writing,  and 
that  nothing  below  the  Plenary  Divine  Inspiration  was 
adequate  to  their  production. 

V.  Before  I  conclude  this  Lecture,  I  will  add  an  argu- 
ment which  occurred  to  my  own  mind  many  years  ago, 
and  which  to  me  carried  irresistible  conviction. 

1.  It  may  be  simply  propounded  thus  :  It  is  impossible 
for  a  false,  yet  regular  rule  for  the  interpretation  of  the 
Scriptures,   to   draw  from  them  a  coherent  sense  in  every 


THE     SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    Lc.  375 

passage  to  which  it  should  be  applied  :  But  the  Doctrine 
of  Analogies  is  thus  universally  applicable  :  Necessarily, 
then,  the  Scriptures  are  written  throughout  according  to 
that  Doctrine,  and  this  affords  tlie  true  Rule  for  their 
interpretation. 

And  it  may  be  illustrated  thus  :  Suppose  a  book  were 
found,  written  in  the  English  tongue,  but  in  characters 
grown  obsolete  by  antiquity.  The  mode  of  decyphering 
it,  of  course,  would  be,  by  ascertaining  what  letters  of  the 
present  alphabet  answer  to  those  in  which  the  book  was 
written.  It  is  evident  that  if,  in  attempting  to  assign  the 
corresponding  letters,  we  fixed  upon  wrong  ones,  though 
we  might  appear  to  make  out  a  word  here  and  there,  the 
sense  of  the  series  of  words  would  be  as  much  hidden  as 
ever.  Suppose,  for  instance,  I  assume  the  letter  which  is 
indeed  a  G  to  be  an  M,  the  0  to  be  an  Jl,  and  the  D  an 
JV';  and  instead  of  God  were  to  read  man,  wherever  that 
combination  of  letters  occurred  :  although  I  should  thus 
have  got  a  single  word,  which,  for  aught  that  appeared  in 
that  instance  alone,  might  be  the  true  one,  yet  perhaps  I 
might  not  find  another  case  in  which  my  misconstrued  al- 
phabet would  make  any  word  whatever  ;  and  certainly  I 
should  never  find  two  or  three  words,  so  made  out,  that 
would  read  together  in  a  coherent  series.  Until,  then,  the 
really  corresponding  letters  were  discovered,  all  would  be 
doubt  and  conjecture:  we  might  dispute  whether  the  book 
were  written  in  the  English  or  in  any  other  language:  and 
probably  many  would  contend,  that  it  was  not  intended  to 
have  any  series  of  meaning  at  all  ;  just  as  is  now  generally 
affirmed  with  respect  to  the  spiritual  sense  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. If,  on  the  contrary,  on  applying  any  system  of  in- 
terpretation to  the  supposed  mysterious  book,  it  should  be 
found  to  decypher,  not  one  or  two  words  only,  but  the 
whole  ; — if  the  whole  might  be  read  in  oidcr,  definite 
words  and  a  coherent  sense  being  found  in  every  part;  the 
truth  of  tiie  proposed  system   of  interpretation  would  be 


376  PLF.NARY    INSPIRATIOr^    OF 

incontestable  ;  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  the  unknown 
characters  really  answered  to  the  common  ones  which  the 
proposed  system  substituted  for  them.  Now  this  case,  I 
venture  to  affirm,  is  exactly  parallel  to  that  of  our  propos- 
ed interpretation  of  the  Word  of  God  by  the  Rule  drawn 
from  the  Doctrine  of  Analogies.  If  the  signification  as- 
sicrned  from  this  Doctrine  to  any  term  used  in  Scripture 
were  not  the  true  one, — did  not  give  the  properly  corres- 
ponding idea, — though  a  colourable  interpretation  of  one 
or  two  passages  might  perhaps  be  offered,  yet  the  applica- 
tion of  the  same  sense  to  tlie  same  term  wherever  ehe  it 
occurred  would  yield  nothing  but  a  chaos  of  confusion. 
But  when  we  find  that  the  contrary  is  the  case  with  the 
system  we  have  proposed  ;  when  it  is  seen,  that  this  ex- 
plains one  passage  as  readily  as  another,  and  the  whole  as 
completely  as  a  part;  when  the  sense  assigned  by  it  to  any 
individual  term  is  found  to  afford  a  luminous  meaning  in 
every  instance  where  that  term  occurs  ;*  the  conclusion  is 
irresistible,  that  the  system  is  correct.  On  this  ground  we 
rest  the  claim  of  the  Doctrine  of  Analogies  to  be  received 
as  the  true  key  for  the  interpretation  of  Holy  Writ;  assur- 
ed that  in  this  will  be  found  the  true  alphabet  for  decy- 
phering  the  Divine  Style  of  Writing.  Let  us  take  this  for 
our  guide,  and  begin  with  the  books  of  Moses  ;  and  we 
fear  not  to  say  ;  Behold,  their  mysteries  unfold.  Let  us 
proceed  through  the  Prophets  ;  and  nothing  so  recondite 
will  present  itself,  as  will  not,  on  the  right  application  of 
this  key,  expand  full  to  the  view.  Let  us  continue  our  re- 
searches through  the  Gospels  and  Apocalypse,  and  still  we 
shall  find  that  this  Doctrine  affords  the  universal  talisman, 
by  which  the  veil  of  the  letter  is  every  where  laid  open, 
and  the  wonders  of  God's  law, — all  that  man  can  compre- 
hend of  the  wisdom  of  Omniscience, — are  revealed. 


*  See  this  exemplified,  with  respect  to  the  tenn  dovds,  in  the  fourtli  Lec- 
turr,  p.  2-10,  in-,  and  Appendix,  No.  IV. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  377 

The  two  conclusions  then,  of  onr  proposition  ahov;;, 
hence  resnlt  : 

First,  Til  it  tiie  Doctrine  of  Analogies,  l)eing  tans  appli- 
cable to  the  tlecyi)liering  of  t!ie  natural  images  composing 
the  letter  of  the  Divine  Word  from  one  enJ  of  ii  to  the 
other,  affords  t!ie  true  rule  forit-s  interpretation. 

Secondly  :  Tiiat  the  Diviae  Word,  being  thus  univer- 
sally capable  of  being  iiterpreted  by  the  Doctrine  of  Ana- 
loo'ies,  mn?t  have  been  intentionally  written  according  to  it. 

2.  Let  us  extend  this  argument  by  the  following  sup- 
plement :  How  can  it  be  accounted  for,  that  writings 
composed  by  a  great  number  of  diffi-rent  authors,  who 
were  scattered  over  a  period  of  sixteen  hundred  years,  and 
were  thns  without  any  ])ossibilily  of  settling  a  plan  in  con- 
cert, should  be  written  throughout  by  a  uniform  princij^le 
of  so  remarkable  a  kind  ; — especially  when  it  i*  certain, 
that  at  least  the  greater  number  of  the  penmen  were  quite 
unconscious  that  their  productions  were  governed  by  this 
jjrinciple,  and  were  entirely  luiacquainted  with  the  spirit- 
ual contents,  whicli,  by  virtue  of  this  law  of  their  con- 
struction, their  writings  contained  ? 

From  this  circumstance  alone,  then,  we  surely  are  again 
entitled  to  infer,  that  the  style  in  which  the  Scriptures  are 
composed,  following  every  where  the  Law  of  Analogy,  is 
the  truly  Diviue  Style  of  Writing  ;  and  that  nothing  short 
of  Plenary  Divine  Inspiration  could  be  adequate  to  the 
production  of  Coinpositions  so  extraordinary.  Truly, 
therefore,  are  they  denominated,  "  the  Word  of  God." 
■48 


LECTURE  VI. 


THE    WHOLE    FABRIC    OF    INFIDEL  OBJECTIONS   SHEWN  TO  BE 
WITHOUT    FOUNDATION. 

I.  General  View  of  the  System  and  Arguments  of  the  preceding 
Lectures  :  Important  additional  Testimcny.  II.  The  four 
classes  of  Infidel  Objections  stated  in  the  first  Lecture  resumed ^ 
'  and  examined  by  the  view  lohich  has  been  developed  of  the  na- 
ture of  the  Holy  Word,  and  of  the  means  of  decyphering  its 
true  signification.  1 .  Imputed  Inconsistencies  uilh  Reascn 
and  Science  considered  :  Style  of  Writing  in  the  first  part  of 
the  book  of  Genesis.  2.  Imputed  Contradictions  considered  : 
Why  four  Gospels  were  written.  3.  Imputed  Violations  of 
JVIorality  considered  :  David  not  a  fatlern,  but  a  type.  4. 
Imputed  Insignificance  considered.  General  Reply  ccnfirmed; 
—  That  all  such  Objections  arise  from  taking  a  merely  super- 
ficial view  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and  from  an  utter  Igno- 
rance of  their  true  J^cUure.  III.  Mdress  to  Christians,  en 
the  tN'ecessity  of  taking  higher  ground  in  their  Ccntrcversy  \cith 
Deists.  IV.  Jlddress  to  Deists,  on  the  internal  causes  of 
Scepticism.     Conclusion. 


It  has  been  the  object  of  our  preceding  Lectures  to  shew, 
that  the  Holy  Scrij)tures  are  written  according  to  the  hnvs 
of  the  Analogy  or  Mutual  Relation  established  by  creation 


PLENARY    INSPIRATION,    &C.  S79 

between  thins^s  natural  and  spiritual  :  that  they  thus  con- 
tain a  spiritual  ?cnse  distinct  from  the  literal  expression, 
which  they  could  not  convey,  in  an  orderly  series,  unless 
they  were  divinely  inspired  throughout  ;  that  there  is  am- 
j)lc  evidence  that  they  are  thus  written,  and  of  course  that 
they  an  divinely  inspii-ed  ;  ami  thus  that  they  are,  what 
tliey  profess  to  be,  the  Word  of  God. 

I.  The  line  of  argument  by  which  we  arrive  at  this  con- 
clusion has  consisted  of  four  stages,  which,  now  that  we 
are  about  to  close  the  whole  discussion,  we  will  state  in 
one  view. 

1.  We  have  seen  in  the  fir«t  place,  in  our  first  Lecture, 
that  a  Revelation  which  is  indeed  from  God,  must  contain, 
in  every  part  of  it,  the  treasures  of  infinite  Wisdom  :  but 
we  have  seen  also,  that  this  wisdom  does  not  every  where 
appear  in  the  Scriptures  on  the  face  of  the  letter  ; — so  far 
from  it,  that  infidels  have  deduced  from  the  appearances 
of  the  letter,  and  in  ignorance  of  tiieir  containing  any 
thing  further,  various  plausible  arguments  for  denying 
them  to  have  proceeded  from  any  superior  intelligence. 
But  the  fair  inference  from  those  appearances  is,  not  that 
they  are  not  divinely  inspired,  but  that,  if  they  are,  they 
must  contain  that  superior  wisdom  which  is  the  criterion 
of  inspiration,  in  an  interior  sense  di^-tinct  from  the  literal 
ex})ression.  This  the  deistical  objections  appear  to  me  de- 
cidedly to  prove  ; — that  if  the  Scriptures  actually  do  not 
contain  any  thing  beyond  what  appears  on  the  surface, 
they  are  not  the  Word  of  God  :  but  they  by  no  means 
prove  the  negation  which  they  aim  at, — that  they  are  not 
the  Word  of  God  : — they  only  prove,  that,  to  be  such, 
they  must  contain  more  than  appears  on  the  siirface, — that 
they  must  include  a  spiritual  sense  within  the  letter,  in 
which  all  difficulties  vanish,  and  the  wisdom  every  way 
worthv  of  God  opens  to  the  view. 


380  PLENARY    IKSriRATION    OF 

So  far,  then,  the  objections  of  Deis-ts  may  clearly  be  re- 
tortetl  against  themselves.  We  may  say  to  them,  "  After 
all  your  industry  in  seeking  for  diificulties  in  the  letter  of 
Scripture;  and  iidmitting  the  difficulties  you  have  brought' 
forward  to  be  ever  so  great,  so  long  as  the  literal  expres- 
sion alone  is  attended  to  ;  you  have  not  produced  any 
thing  that  can  convince  a  reflecting  mind  that  the  Scrip- 
tures are  not  the  Word  of  God;  you  only  elevate  our  con- 
ce])tions  to  higher  views  respecting  what  the  Word  of  God 
must  really  be.  We  find  in  the  Scriptures  numerous  inti- 
mations, leading  us  to  look  for  something  beyond  the  let- 
ter :  the  difficulties  you  have  started  are  calculated  to  turn 
attention  the  same  way  :  Let  vis  then  examine  the  Scrip- 
tures in  this  new  and  more  exalted  point  of  view  ;  in 
which,  if  you  will  accompany  us,  you  will  probably  see 
reason  to  change  your  opinion,  and  to  acknowledge  that 
your  objections  to  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  have 
all  proceeded  upon  a  very  partial  and  entirely  inadequate 
view  of  the  case." 

2.  This  being  precisely  the  situation  in  which  the  Clirist- 
ian  advocate  is  placed  by  the  Deistical  objector,  we  pro- 
ceeded, in  the  second  branch  of  our  argument,  contained 
in  our  second  Lecture,  to  examine  the  question  thus  open- 
ed for  consideration.  Here  then  we  gave  proofs,  from  ra- 
tional and  philoso})hical  considerations,  that  a  composition 
which  is  really  the  Word  of  God,  muit  not  only  be  gene- 
rally replete  with  divine  wisdom,  but  must  contain  the 
chief  stores  of  such  wisdom  in  its  interior  recesses, — in  a 
spiritual  sei'se  included  within  tlie  letter  ; — ^^just  as,  in  all 
the  works  of  God,  and  especially  in  his  noblest  work,  man, 
are  contained  innumerable  forms  and  wonderful  organs, 
both  corporeal  and  mental,  within  the  <^utward  form, 
which  alone  is  visible  to  the  eye.  This  branch  of  the  ar- 
gument then  stands  tiuis:  ''  A  composition  which  has  God 
for  its  Author,  must  contain  within  it  stores  of  hidden  wis- 


THE    SCRIPTURF.S    ASSERTr.D,    &,C.  381 

rlom,  beyond  that  whicli  appears  on  the  surlace  :  On  the 
supposition,  then,  that  the  Si:riptures  are  the  Word  of 
God,  they  actually  miut  be  re})kte  v/ith  such  hidden  wis- 
dom." And  thus  the  same  concUuion  is  pres.ed  upon  us 
by  considerations  groimded  in  the  very  nature  of  things, 
which  we  before  found  was  pointed  out  to  us  by  the  infi- 
del objections. 

It  is  true  that  this  argument  does  not  prove  tliat  the 
Scriptures  positively  arc  tlic  Word  of  God,  but  only  what 
their  nature  must  be  (/tliey  are  :  But  as  they  likewii^e  af- 
firm the  same  of  themselves,  and  had  that  affirmation  be- 
lieved, witliout  reserve,  in  the  days  of  primitive  and  pure 
Christianity,  (both  which  points  arc  also  proveil  in  our 
second  Lecture,)  a  full  coincidence  is  establihhed  between 
what  a  divine  revelation  must  be,  and  what  the  Scrij  tures 
pretend  to  be  ;  and  thus  is  raised  a  strong  presumption, 
that  this,  on  due  examination,  is  what  they  will  actually 
be  found  to  be.  Before  then  the  Deist  rejects  them  on 
account  of  some  things  which  offend  him  in  the  letter,  it 
behoves  him  to  be  very  certain,  that  the  literal  sense  is  all 
that  is  intended  :  and  if  he  is  assured  that  a  fiu'ther  mean- 
ing is  intended,  (and  I  with  my  voice  or  pen  coidd  carry 
this  assurance  to  every  one  that  ever  saw  a  Bible,  whether 
Deist  or  Chri-tian  !)  t'len  ought  he,  as  a  candid  inquirer, 
to  pause  av.hile,  and  examine  the  evidence  upon  which 
this  statement  rests  :  aiid  sure  I  am,  that  whoever  would 
candidly  do  this,  and  would  take  the  pains  to  understand 
it,  must  be  convinced  of  its  truth,  and  must  learn  to  prize 
the  Scriptures  as  his  highest  treasure, — as  containing  in- 
deed the  pure  Word  of  God. 

3>  But  to  determine  this  point  with  certainty,  it  is  ne- 
cessary that  we  should  be  acquainted  with  the  Law  or 
Rule  by  which  every  divine  composition  must  be  compos^ 
ed,  and  by  which  of  conrse  it  alone  can  be  decyphered  : 
wherefore,  as  the  third  branch  of  our  argument,  we   pro- 


38^  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

ceeded  to  shew,  in  our  third  Lecture,  that  there  must  be, 
from  tlie  very  nature  of  creation,  an  unalterable  relation 
between  natural  things  and  spiritual,  insomuch  that  all 
things  in  nature,  being  outward  productions  from  inward 
essences,  must  be  natural,  sensible,  and  material  types,  of 
moral,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  antetypes,  and  iinally  of 
their  prototypes  in  God.  I  then  availed  myself  of  several 
testimonies  in  favour  of  this  great  principle  :  but  I  will 
here  mention  one  which  was  not  before  the  public  at  the 
time  of  the  delivery  of  my  former  Lecture,  but  which  is 
so  striking  and  beautiful,  that  I  am  sure  every  lover  of 
truth  will  be  glad  to  be  put  in  possession  of  it  now.  It  is 
contained  in  an  address  delivered  by  the  Rev.  VV.  Kirby, 
M.A.,  F.R.  and  L.S.,  the  Chairman  of  the  Zoological 
Club  of  the  Linnrean  Society,  at  a  late  meeting  of  that 
body.  He  offers  his  views  of  the  existence  of  fixed  analo- 
gies among  the  various  orders  of  being  ;  of  the  importance 
of  tlie  recognition  of  the  princijde  to  the  higher  interests 
of  Science  ;  and  of  its  applicability  to  the  construction  of 
a  highly  significant  language  ;  in  these  terms  :  "  When 
we  are  engaged  in  the  study  of  animals,  and  more  espe- 
cially of  groups  of  them,  it  is  of  the  first  importance,  if  we 
would  avoid  mistakes,  that  our  attention  should  be  kept 
alive  to  what  the  friend  lately  alluded  to  has  said  on  the 
subject  of  affinity  and  analogy.*  By  his  judicious  observa- 
tions on  this  subject  he  has  opened  a  new  door  into  the 
temple  of  nature,  and  taught  us  to  explore  her  mystic  la- 
byrinths, guided  by  a  safer  clew  than  ice  icere  wont  to  follow. 
And  wiioever  casts  even  a  cursory  glance  over  her  three 
kingdoms,  will  every  where  be  struck  by  resemblances 
between  objects  which  have  no  real  relation  to  each  other. 
He  will  see  on  one  side  dendritic  minerals;  on  another,  zoo' 
morphous  plants  •,  on   a  third,  phytomcrphous  animals  ;  and 

*  The  gentleman  alluded  to  is  Mr.  Macleay,  who  has  demoDstrated  the  ex- 
istence of  a  remsj-kable  analofry  between  insects  and  fungi:  Se©  our  third 
I.prturr.  p.  lOfi  and  107  fnotes.)  , 


THE    SCRIPTUnF.S    ASSERTED,    &C.  383 

among  animals  themselves  he  will  see  numberless  instances 
of  this  simulation  of  affinity  where  the  reality  of  it  does 
not  exist.  From  this  part  of  the  plan  of  the  Creator^  ue  may 
gather^  I  think^  that  every  thing  has  its  meamng,  as 
WELL  AS  ITS  use  ;  and  that  probably  to  the  first  pair  the  Cre- 
ation WAS  A  BOOK  OF  SYjMBOLS,  A    SACRED    LANGUAGE  ;    OF 

WHICH  THEY  POSSESSED  THE  Key,  and  icMch  it  ims  their  de- 
light to  study  and  decypher.''''* 

Here  then  is  asserted  in  the  most  conclusive  manner,  and 
as  founded  on  the  most  certain  facts,  the  very  principle 
which  it  has  been  a  chief  object  of  these  Lectures  to  estab- 
lish. Not  only  does  this  enlightened  piiiloi^opher  and  di- 
vine affirm  the  existence  of  a  fixed  analogy  between  the 
various  objects  of  the  three  kingdoms  of  nature,  but  he 
recognises,  as  an  unavoidable  concequence,  its  existence 
between  the  kingdoms  of  nature  and  tho^e  of  mind  : 
and  when  he  concludes  that  it  forms  a  sacred  language,  of 
which  our  first  parents  possessed  the  key,  he  leads  by  an 
easy  step  to  our  further  conclusion,  that  in  this  language 
the  Word  of  God  is,  and  must  be,  written.  Little,  cer- 
tainly, did  I  think,  when  I  first  propounded  the  principle 
in  this  Hall,  tliat  it  was  being  advanced,  almost  at  the 
same  moment,  in  one  of  the  most  distinguished  ])liilosophi- 
cal  societies  in  the  kingdom!  But  from  this  and  other  to- 
kens I  am  quite  satisfied,  that  the  advances  which  science 
is  at  present  making  in  all  directions,  are  very  raj)idly 
leading  the  mind  of  reflecting  men  to  the  sajiie  doctrine  of 
Scripture  interpretation  as  has  been  offered  in  these  Lec- 
tures. Tlie  final  consequence  will  be,  that  there  will  be 
no  resting  place  to  be  found  between  absolute  Atheism, 
and  those  views  of  the  nature  of  the  Divine  Word  which 
we  have  endeavoured  to  develope.  These,  all  real  science 
will  be  found  more  and  more  to  confirm  :  and  Atheism, 
also,  will  then   become  far  more  inexcusable,  because  the 


*  riiil.  Map.  Dor.  ^62?^,  p.  461. 


384  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

testimonies  to  the  divinity  of  the  Scriptures  will  become 
60  palpable  and  so  abundant. 

4.  Finally,  we  have  endeavoured  to  shew,  that  the 
communication  of  a  Revelation  from  God  to  man,  must 
follow  the  same  general  law  as  regulated  the  production 
of  tiie  creation  ;  thus  that  the  Analogy  found  to  exi^t  be- 
tween natural  things  and  spiritual,  must  govern  the  com- 
position of  writings  constituting  such  a  Revelation  ;  and 
that,  in  point  of  fact,  such  a  regard  to  this  Analogy  ii  dis- 
coverable in  evefy  part  of  the  Holy  Word,  and  is  the  true 
key  for  decyphering  its  contents.  Examples  in  proof  of 
this,  with  dissertations  on  the  true  natuie  of  divinely  in- 
spired prophecy  and  divinely  inspired  history,  and  on  the 
design  of  the  selection  of  the  Isi-aelites  as  a  peculiar  peo- 
ple, occupied  our  two  last  and  longest  Lectures  :  and  I  do 
trust,  that  some  of  the  instances  which  were  given  of  the 
applicability  of  the  Doctrine  of  Analogies  to  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  Diving  Word,  though  very  imperfectly  eluci- 
dated, must  yet  have  been  sufliciently  cle  ir  to  carry  con- 
viction to  every  accessible.mind. 

The  presumption,  then,  in  favour  of  the  divinity  of  the 
Scriptures,  created  by  the  former  part  of  o«n-  argument, 
now  rises  to  certaintv  ;  for  this  branch  of  the  argument 
stands  thus  :  A  Composition  which  has  God  for  its  Author 
must  own  the  laws  of  tlie  same  Analogy  as  reigns  t.hrough 
all  the  divine  works  :  This  characteiistic  exists  in  the 
Sacred  Scriptures  :  Wherefore  they  must  have  proceeded 
from  the  Autlior  of  nature.  If  it  be  objected  that  this 
only  proves  that  the  Scriptures  may  have  had  such  an  ori- 
gin, but  not  that  they  mmt ;  a  supplementary  member  may 
be  added  to  the  argument  :  As  was  shewn  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  fifth  Lecture,  No  composition  could, 
cvefy  where,  follow  the  laws  of  the  Analogy  between  natural 
and  spiritual  ol)jects,  unless  dictated  by  a  Being  to  whom 
the  properties  of  all  junturrd  and  spiritual  objects  were  per- 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  385 

fectly  known  :  As  then  the  Scriptures  do  every  where  fol- 
low this  Analogy,  they  must  have  proceeded  from  a  Being 
of  Infinite  Intelligence. 

Thus  have  we  arrived  fully  at  the  conclusion,  that  the 
Scriptures  are,  what  they  profess  to  be,  the  Word  of  God. 

II.  If  then  it  is  true,  that  such  is  the  nature  of  the  Word 
of  God  ; — if,  as  has  been  shewn,  it  is  not  given  to  commu- 
nicate to  man  natural  knowledge,  but  spiritual, — and  if,  as 
likewise  has  been  evinced,  to  communicate  spiritual  things 
without  a  veil  would  be  to  injure  those  who  are  in  states 
of  confirmation  against  divine  things,  and  not  to  benefit 
them  ; — if,  finally,  it  is  because  it  follows  the  Law  which 
must  necessarily  govern  the  communication  of  a  Divine 
Revelation,  that  the  Word  of  God  is  couched  in  language 
outwardly  simple,  whilst  it  contains  divine  wisdom  with- 
in ;  which,  also,  is  capable  of  being  decyphered  by  an  ap- 
plication to  it  of  tlie  laws  observable  in  nature  :  then  are 
we  furnished  with  a  satisfactory  answer  to  every  argument 
that  can  possibly  be  urged  against  it.  It  necessarily  fol- 
lows, that  it  is  the  Word  of  God  indeed  :  and  it  is  imme- 
diately seen  that  all  infidel  objections  proceed  upon  a  par- 
tial view  of  the  case,  and  that  they  fall  to  the  ground  of 
themselves,  as  soon  as  the  true  nature  of  the  Writings 
against  which  they  are  raised  is  knovim,  without  the  neces- 
sity of  being  separately  refuted. 

By  way  of  conclusion,  however,  we  are  to  shew  more 
particularly,  how  the  system  of  which  we  have  been  en- 
deavouring to  give  a  sketch,  applies  to  the  four  classes  of 
infidel  objections  noticed  in  our  first  Lecture  ;  which  im- 
pute to  it  many  statements  contradictory  to  each  other  ; 
many  that  are  contradictory  to  reason  and  science  ;  many 
that  are  contradictory  to  just  morality  ;  and  many  that 
relate  to  matters  of  an  indifferent  nature,  totally  unworthy 
of  the  concern  of  an  Infinite  Being. 
49 


386  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

1.  There  will  be  some  convenience  in  considering  jirstj 
that  class  of  infidel  objections  which  imputes  to  the  Scrip- 
tures Contradictions  to  Reason  and  Science. 

Rightly  to  estimate  the  chief  of  these  objections,  it  is 
necessary  to  be  acquainted  with  the  peculiarity  of  style 
belonging  to  that  part  of  the  Word  of  God  in  which  they 
occur  ;  which  is,  the  first  portion  of  the  book  of  Genesis. 
We  have  endeavoured  to  draw  the  line  of  distinction,  in 
our  fourth  Lecture,*  between  some  of  the  books  contained 
in  the  collection  denominated  tiie  Bible,  and  others,  and 
to  shew,  that  while  the  greater  part  are  written  by  the 
plenary  inspiration  for  which  we  contend,-and  thus  contain 
a  spiritual  sense  within  that  of  the  letter,  which  is  the 
criterion  for  distinguishing  the  proper  Word  of  God  ;  the 
remainder  are  the  offspring  of  the  illuminated  intellect  of 
the  writers,  possess  no  regular  sense  beside  that  of  the  let- 
ter, and  cannot  claim  any  higher  inspiration  than  that  lax 
and  partial  one,  which  is  now  all  that  is  usually  allowed 
to  the  whole  of  the  Sacred  Writings.  But  among  those 
books  which  are  written  by  the  plenary  and  immediate 
inspiration,  there  are  also  some  specific  differences  of  style, 
though  they  are  all  composed  in  the  general  divine  style. 
Thus  the  prophetic  style  is  evidently  different  from  the 
historical.  There  also  are  two  species  of  that  which  as- 
sumes the  historical  form  ;  and  which  must  be  distinctly 
seen  before  we  can  meet  effectually  that  class  of  infidel 
objections  which  is  founded  on  imputed  contradictions  to 
reason  and  science. 

(1.)  We  have  seen  in  the  fifth  Lecture,f  that  the  Israel- 
ites were  selected  by  Divine  Providence,  to  be  made  the 
instruments  of  representmg  things  of  a  divine  and  spiritual 
nature  ;  hence,  though  the  particulars  of  their  history  re- 
corded in  the  Scriptures  are  all  typical,  exhibiting  spiritual 

*  Page  165  ;  but  more  particularly  in  the  Appendix,  No.  II.         t  Page  262 
to  30(5;  &c. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  387 

and  divine  things  under  symbolic  actions  and  descriptions, 
they  still  are  histories  of  real  occurrences,  which  took 
place,  in  general,  as  they  are  related.  But  it  is  easy  to 
see,  that  tliis  combination  of  symbolic  meaning  with  ac- 
tual facts  could  not  exist,  till  the  nation,  thus  invested  by 
divine  appointment  with  a  representative  character,  exist- 
ed :  this  species  of  Divine  AVriting,  therefore,  can  only 
commence  with  the  origin  of  the  I^^raelitish  nation.  What 
style,  then,  might  we  expect  would  be  employed  in  that 
portion  of  the  Word  of  God,  which  relates  to  the  affairs 
of  tlie  inhabitants  of  the  earth  before  the  birth  of  Abra- 
ham, the  great  founder  of  the  Israelitish  nation  ?  What 
could  be  so  proper,  as  the  style  of  writing  which  prevail- 
ed among  the  natives  of  the  globe  at  the  period  it  de- 
scribes ?  And  this  was  the  style  of  pure  allegory,  in  Avhich 
the  things  meant  are  so  entirely  independent  on  the  things 
mentioned,  that  the  latter  are  invented  to  serve  merely  as 
a  vehicle  for  the  conveyance  of  the  former. 

If  such  be  the  fact,  there  cannot  be  a  greater  mistake 
than  to  imagine,  that  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  is  intend- 
ed to  be  an  exact  description  of  the  process  of  the  Creation 
of  the  world.  It  can  answer  to  it  no  further,  than  as  the 
real  order  of  that  creation  answered  to  the  order  in  which 
the  endowments  necessary  for  rendering  man  a  purely  in- 
telligent and  heavenly-minded  being  were  successively 
implanted  in  him  ;  and  which  was  an  order  similar  to  that, 
in  which  the  child  now  advances  from  the  ignorance  in 
which  he  comes  into  the  world,  to  the  understanding  of  a 
man.  All  the  objections  then  which  scepticism  has  ad- 
vanced against  the  divine  inspiration  of  the  Word  of  God, 
founded  on  the  inconsistency  of  some  of  the  facts  related 
in  the  early  part  of  Genesis  with  the  known  principles  of 
reason  and  science,  fall  to  the  ground  at  once,  when  it  is 
seen,  that  this  is  not  intended  to  be  the  record  of  a  natural 
but  of  a  spiritual  creation  ;  and  that  the  events  which  fol- 
low to  the  time  of  Abraham,  are  not  intended  to  give  the 


383  PLENARY     INSPIRATIOW     OP 

history  of  mankind  as  to  their  outward  transactions,  but  a 
history  of  mankind  as  to  the  state  of  tlieir  mnids,  and 
their  reception  or  perversion  of  divine  gifts  and  graces. 
To  affirm,  as  is  now  the  fashion,  that  the  narration  is  to 
be  literally  understood, — that  the  ordinary  date  of  human 
life  was  then  about  a  thousand  years, — that  serpents  could 
talk,  and  that  the  woman  was  literally  made  of  her  hus- 
band's rib, — is  to  exact  of  the  believer  a  blind  faith  in- 
deed. In  the  early  ages  of  Christianity,  her  teachers  knew 
better  :  they  did  not  thus  "  bind  heavy  burthens,  and 
grievous  to  be  borne,  and  lay  them  on  men's  shoulders." 
Clemens  of  Alexandria,  one  of  the  most  learned  of  the 
early  Fathers,  declares,  that  such  was  the  style  customary 
in  the  ages  to  which  this  history  belongs  ;  observing  "  that 
all  who  have  treated  of  divine  subjects,  whether  Greeks 
or  Barbarians,  industriously  involved  the  beginnings  of 
things,  and  have  delivered  the  truth  in  enigmas,  signs,  and 
symbols,  in  allegories  and  metaphors,  and  other  such 
figures."*  Origen,  when  the  shrewd  enemy  of  Christiani- 
ty, Celsus,  ridiculed  the  stories  of  the  rib,  the  serpent,  &c. 
as  childish  fables,  reproaches  him  for  want  of  candour,  in 
purposely  keeping  out  of  sight,  what  was  so  evident  upon 
the  face  of  the  narrative,  that  the  whole  is  a  pure  allego- 
ry, "f  Indeed,  so  universal  was  this  sentiment,  tliat  De  la 
Bigue,  in  his  Bibliotheca  Patrum,  after  quoting  a  number  of 
testimonies  to  this  effect,  says,  "  For  these  reasons,  the 
Interpreters  whom  we  have  mentioned,  understanding  all 
that  is  said  of  Paradise  in  a  spiritual  manner,  affirmed, 
that  divers  heresies  had  arisen,  because  certain  persons 
had  understood  what  is  said  of  God  and  Paradise  after  a 
carnal  manner  :":]:  so  that  although  orthodoxy,  as  the  pre- 
vailing opinion  is  always  called,  has  since  gone  over  to 
the  other  side,  it  is  certain  that,  in  the  primitive  days,  the 

•  Strom  I  V.  p.  656,  Ed.  Oi  ♦  Cont.  Cels  I.  iv.  p.  187,  Ed.  Sp 

i  "■  Propter  h*ta  eausas,"  de.c.  torn.  i.  p.  270.     (Far.  1580 ) 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  389 

heretics  were  those  who  interpreted  this  part  of  Scripture 
according  to  the  letter. 

However,  there  is  an  evident  prospect,  that  Reason  and 
Truth  will,  in  this  respect,  again  resume  their  sway  ;  for 
just  sentiments  in  regard  to  the  bearing  of  Revelation  on 
physical  science,  are  now  frequently  promulgated  from 
high  authority  :  Indeed,  the  sentiment  which  I  have  ad- 
vanced, that  Divine  Revelation  is  not  intended  to  commu- 
nicate to  mankind  natural  knowledge,  but  moral  and  spi- 
ritual, seems  likely  soon  to  be  generally  admitted.  Thus 
the  Rev.  W.  D.  Conybeare,  in  his  admirable  Introduction 
to  "  Outlines  of  the  Geology  of  England  and  AVales,"  by 
himself  and  Mr.  Phillips,  delivers  his  views  on  this  ques- 
tion thus  :  "  Before  we  examine  the  bearings  of  physical 
science  on  Revelation,  our  ideas  should  first  be  settled  as 
to  what  may  reasonably  be  expected  from  Revelation  in 
this  respect.  Both  its  opponents  and  some  of  its  defendants 
often  seem  to  argue,  as  if  it  should  have  included  the  dis- 
covery of  a  system  of  physical  truth  ;  which,  it  would  not 
be  difficult  to  shew,  gives  an  entirely  erroneous  view  of 
its  professed  object  ; — to  treat,  namely,  of  the  history  of 
man,  only,  and  that,  even,  but  as  far  as  affects  his  rela- 
tions to  his  Creator,  and  the  dealings  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence  in  regard  to  him."*  He  afterwards  gives  three  views 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  term  days  may  be  understood 
in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  ;  the  second  of  which,  and 
by  far  the  most  tenable  one,  he  states  thus  :  "  We  may 
perhaps  without  real  violence  to  the  inspired  writer,  re- 
gard the  periods  of  creation  recorded  by  Moses,  and  ex- 
pressed under  the  term  of  dcnjs,  not  to  have  designated 
ordinary  days  of  twenty-four  hours,  but  periods  of  defi- 
nite but  considerable  length  ;  such  a  mode  of  extending 
the  signification  of  this  term  being  not  unexampled  in  the 
Sacred  Writings.     Those  who  embrace  this  opinion,  will 

*    Fa~E  I.. 


390  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

of  course  assign  the  formation  of  the  secondary  strata,  in 
great  part  at  least,  to  these  days  of  creation  ;  and  we  have 
the  authority  of  several  divines  in  favour  of  this  mode  of 
interpretation."* 

Here  we  have  the  principle  openly  admitted,  that  to 
convey  physical  instruction  cannot  be  the  design  of  the 
book  of  God  ;  and  that  even  to  make  the  statements  which 
appear  in  the  form  of  physical  details  harmonize  with 
the  unquestionable  discoveries  of  true  science,  great  lati- 
tude must  be  taken  in  the  interpretation  of  the  terms. 
The  same  doctrine  is  powerfully  advocated  in  a  late  Number 
of  the  Quarterly  Review  ;  which  I  advert  to,  because  that 
journal  is  devoted  to  the  interests  of  religion,  as  under- 
stood in  the  Church  of  England, — and  because  the  reputed 
author  of  the   article  alluded  to  is  likewise  a  clergyman. f 

*  Page  Ix. 

t  The  passa,:re  is  rather  long  ;  but  its  interest  being  fully  commensurate  with 
its  lengtii,  it  is  here  given.  It  forms  part  of  the  review  of  Professor  Buckland'B 
late  work,  RcUquhe  Diluvianop. 

"  The  more  the  strata  which  compose  the  crust  of  the  earth  are  examined, 
the  strongei-  evidence  do  they  present  of  revolutions  and  catastrophes  occur- 
ring at  wide  intervals  of  time,  of  .slow  progressive  advancement  to  its  present 
state,  and  of  the  existence  of  varied  orders  of  created  beings  which  successively 
occupied  its  surface  before  it  was  finally  fitted  for  the  abode  of  man.  These 
pliffinomena,  or  rather  the  principles  on  which  they  are  explained  in  the  mod- 
ern schools  of  geology,  have  been  thought  to  militate  against  the  history  of  the 
creation  contained  in  the  first  chapters  of  Genesis. — • 

"  The  usual  mode  of  solving  the  difiiculty  has  been,  to  interpret  the  six  days 
of  creation,  not  as  natural  days  determined  by  the  revolution  of  the  earth  on 
its  axis,  but  as  indefinite  periods  of  time  :  and  to  this  explanation  Mr.  Buck- 
land  seems  disposed  in  that  [his  Inaugural]  Lecture  to  incline.  Others  object 
to  it  with  great  vehemence,  as  wholly  incompatible  xvith  the  institution  of  the 
Sabbath,  which  is  manifestly  set  forth  as  the  seventh  day  :  and  therefore  they 
contend,  that  the  other  six  must  necessarily  be  regarded  as  days  in  the  same 
sense,  and  of  tlie  same  kind. 

"  Instead  of  presuming  to  decide  peremptorily  in  tiiis  matter,  our  object 
will  rather  be  to  caution  the  friends  of  religion  against  a  rash  and  possibly  mis- 
rliievous  mode  of  vindicating  their  opinion.^.  We  beseech  tliem  to  bear  in 
mind,  that  similar  alarm  has  been  taken,  and  similar  zeal  manifested,  in  the 
cause  ufrcligion,  in  several  insUuiccs  wliicli  Jiasc  all  Icrminalcd  iu  cstablLsiiing 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &iC.  S91 

Supposing,  however,  that  this  part  of  the  narrative  of  the 
beginning  of  Genesis,  were  capable,  by  this  latitude  of  in- 

the  points  so  much  dreaded;  and  yet  Christianity,  so  far  from  receiving  a 
sliock,  has  only  emerged  from  the  controversy  with  increased  vigour  and  histre. 
It  is  liardly  necessary  to  remind  them  of  the  persecutions  raised  against  tlic 
first  teachers  of  the  Copernican  system  of  tlie  universe.  The  doctrine  was 
pronounced  to  be  contradictory  to  the  language  of  Holy  Writ,  and  was  ac- 
cordingly condemned  as  falsa  and  impious.  Nay,  so  late  as  tlie  early  part  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  Jesuits'  edition  of  Newton  appeared,  it  was 
thought  necessary  by  the  Editors  to  prefix  an  advertisement,  disclaiming  all 
belief  in  the  system  tlnis  demonstrated,  because  it  had  been  declared  unscrip- 
tural  by  the  church,  and  setting  it  forth  only  as  a  series  of  deductions  from  a 
false  hypothesis. — 

"  Well  indeed  it  is  for  us,  that  the  cause  of  revelation  does  not  depend  upon 
questions  such  as  these  :  for  it  is  remarkable  that  in  every  instance  the  contro- 
versy has  ended  in  a  gradual  surrender  of  those  very  points  which  were  at  one 
time  represented  as  involving  the  vital  interests  of  religion.  Truth,  it  is  cer- 
tain, cannot  be  opposed  to  Truth.  How  inconsiderate  a  risk  do  they  run,  who 
declare  that  the  whole  cause  is  at  issue  in  a  single  dispute,  and  that  the  sub- 
stance of  our  faith  hangs  upon  a  thread — upon  the  literal  interpretation  of  some 
word  or  phrase  against  which  fresh  arguments  are  springing  up  from  day 
to  day  ! 

"  Why,  for  instance,  must  we  be  compelled  to  understand  the  word  day  in 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  precisely  in  the  same  sense  it  now  bears,  viz.  the 
period  of  the  earth's  rotation  upon  its  axis  ?  Certain  it  is  from  the  narrative  itself 
that  the  word  does  not  bear  the  same  meaning  throughout  the  whole  chapter ; 
for  the  first  threo  days  were  passed  before  the  creation  of  the  sun  is  mention- 
ed: and  yet  in  these,  no  less  than  in  the  others,  the  portion  of  time  is  denoted 
by  the  words  '  evening  and  morning  :'  which,*according  to  their  received  im- 
port, necessarily  suppose  the  existence  of  the  sun.  Let  us  not,  however,  be 
misunderstood.  We  are  firmly  convinced  that  the  institution  of  the  Sabbatli 
is  a  divine  ordinance  from  the  beginning — that  tiie  observance  of  it  is  enjoined 
as  connnemorative  of  the  close  of  the  great  work  of  creation,  and  that  its  so- 
lemn obligation  is  expressed  by  the  parallel  which  it  pleased  God  to  draw  be- 
tween the  progress  of  his  own  works,  and  the  destined  employment  of  that 
being  whom  he  made  in  his  own  likeness.  Yet  no  one  can  believe,  when  it  is 
said  God  rested  from  his  works,  that  he  really  underwent  fatigue  and  required 
repose.  The  same  principle  of  accommodation  to  our  perceptions  and  modes 
of  speaking  must  be  admitted  here  as  it  is  in  a  thousand  other  passages  of 
Holy  Scripture.  Our  dutij  cannot  be  mistaken,  whatever  interpretation  we 
put  upon  the  di.spiited  words  ;  and  it  is  this  duty  whicli  it  is  the  main  purpose 
of  that  volume  to  declare  and  to  impress  upon  us."  Q,.  R.  No.  1\  ii.  p.  102 
to  164. 


392  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OP 

terpretation,  of  being  reconciled  with  the  facts  as  now 
ascertained,  much  difficulty  would  still  remain  to  account 
for  the  existence  of  light  for  four  days  (and  days  too  of 
this  indefinitely  long  duration,  amounting,  altogether,  at 
least  to  hundreds  of  years  ; — to  account  for  the  existence 
of  light  all  this  while)  before  the  creation  of  the  sun, 
moon,  and  stars  : — for  the  hypothesis  which  has  been  so 
eagerly  caught  at  by  some  of  the  Christian  advocates,  that 
this  light  was  what  certain  modern  philosophers  have 
called  "  the  matter  of  light,"  diffused  through  all  space, 
cannot  be  accepted  till  it  is  shewn,  tliat  light  can  ever  be 
rendered  perceptible  without  some  luminous  centre  to  put 
it  into  activity.  When  such  philosophic  advocates  of  the 
literal  sense  can  introduce  us  into  a  closed  room,  contain- 
ing neither  lamp  nor  candle,  yet  fully  illuminated  by  the 
universally  diffused  "  matter  of  light,"  their  explanation 
of  Genesis  may  be  received  :  but  to  receive  it  before,  is 
only  to  combine  the  dreams  of  philosophers  with  the 
dreams  of  divines.  But  every  difficulty  would  be  sur- 
mounted at  once,  were  it  admitted,  that  to  describe  the 
spiritual  creation, — the  endowment  of  man  with  those 
gifts  and  graces  which  were  so  eminently  conspicuous  in 
the  primitive  times, — in  those  times  which  the  poets  have 
designated  as  the  golden  age,  and  have  represented  by  the 
fiction  of  the  garden  of  Jupiter,  and  which  our  Scriptures 
depict  by  the  happiness  of  man  when  the  garden  of  Eden 
was  his  abode  ; — were  it  admitted  that  to  describe  this 
creation  is  the  true  object  of  this  relation  in  Genesis.  The 
truth  is,  that  the  circumstances  detailed  agree  with  the 
fiicts  attending  the  physical  creation,  so  far  as  the  analogy 
between  the  one  and  the  other  is  exact  ;  but  when  it  holds 
no  longer,  the  inspired  relation  follows  the  course  of  the 
moral  creation,  and  disregards  the  physical  altogether. 

2.  The  truth  of  this  view  will  be  greatly  strengthened, 
if  we  stop  a  little  to  consider  the  genius  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the   world   in   thosic    very  ancient  times,  according  to 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  393 

the  best  idea  we  can  form  of  it  from  the  traditions  and  ac- 
counts handed  down  from  ancient  writers. 

This  is  a  cir(aunstance  which  has  much  puzzled  the  ex- 
plorers of  antiquity,  and  Avhich  has  frequently  led  histori- 
ans immensely  out  of  the  way  ;  that  all  history  is,  in  the 
beginning,  involved  in  fable.  Trace  up  the  records  of  any 
very  ancient  nation  to  its  origin,  and  they  are  tmivcrsally 
found  to  become  enveloped  in  mystery, — to  contain  rela- 
tions as  remote  from  probability  as  those  delivered  in  the 
early  part  of  Genesis  ;  wherefore  they  are  considered  by 
all  as  incredible.  Now  tlie  air  which  they  thus  wear  of 
incredil)ility,  cannot  possibly  arise  from  their  antiquity 
alone.  Never  was  there  a  more  gross  attempt  to  impose 
an  egregious  sophism  upon  the  public,  than  when  a  cele- 
brated infidel  advanced,  that  all  testimony  diminished  in 
credibility  in  the  ratio  of  its  age.  The  history  of  Thucy- 
dides  and  the  commentaries  of  Caesar,  will  carry  as  much 
conviction  to  the  mind  of  the  reader  that  they  were  in- 
tended to  be  records  of  actual  occurrences,  and  are  in  the 
main  true,  five  thousand  years  hence,  as  they  do  now,  or 
ever  did  :  whereas  the  fabulous  history  of  the  origin  of 
Thebes,  and  of  the  armed  men  that  sprung  out  of  the  earth 
when  Cadmus  had  killed  a  dragon  and  sown  his  teeth  in 
the  ground,  equally  wore  the  character  of  fable  when  first 
the  story  was  broached  as  at  the  present  day  :  only,  they 
who  lived  in  the  age  of  its  invention,  knew  that  it  was  to 
be  regarded  as  an  allegorical  and  not  as  a  real  history  ; 
they  knew,  also,  how  such  allegories  were  to  be  interpret- 
ed ;  and  did  not,  like  many  of  the  modern  learned,  sup- 
pose, that  every  writing  wearing  the  historical  form  was 
meant  to  be  understood  literally,  and  that,  if  it  was  in  this 
shape  incredible,  it  was  to  be  rejected  altogether.  The 
fact  is,  as  the  remains  of  Grecian,  Egyptian,  and  Indian 
antiquity  which  have  come  down  to  us  abundantly  evince, 
that  it  was  the  custom  in  very  ancient  times,  not  only  with 
the  people  Avho  lived  before  the  flood,  but  with  those  who' 
50 


394  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

flourished  many  ages  afterwards,  to  couch  whatever  they 
wished  to  be  conveyed  to  posterity  under  the  form  of  an 
historical  relation,  but  intermingled^  like  the  history  of 
Adam  and  Eve,  with  circumstances  so  extraordinary,  as 
shewed  that  it  was  not  designed  to  be  literally  apprehend- 
ed. But  in  process  of  time  the  meaning  of  the  symbols 
which  they  used  was  forgotten  ;  and  then  the  narratives 
composed  by  their  aid,  being  accompanied  with  a  tradi- 
tional feeling  of  respect  which  prevented  their  total  rejec- 
tion, began  to  be  understood  in  their  literal  sense  only, 
and  mankind  were  lost  in  amazement  at  the  marvellous 
things,  which  they  supposed  their  ancestors  witnessed. 
Thus  the  vulgar,  in  the  latter  ages  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
looked  back  Avith  admiration  at  the  times  when  their  he- 
roes went  to  scliool  to  the  centaurs,  and  sacred  statues  or 
holy  shields  fell  from  heaven  for  the  protection  of  favour- 
ed cities  ;  as  the  vulgar  of  modern  date, — such  of  them,  at 
least,  as  love  the  Avorld  so  well  they  fain  would  never 
leave  it, — envy  the  longevity  of  the  antediluvian  patri- 
archs, and  think  how  happy  they  should  be  were  a  thou- 
sand years  still  the  duration  of  human  life. 

But  further  :  The  people  of  the  earliest  ages  of  the 
world  were  of  a  turn  of  mind  so  devoted  to  exalted  senti- 
ments and  sublime  contemplations,  that  they  never  thought 
of  committing  to  writing  accovmts  of  common  occurrences: 
they  were  too  indifferent  to  the  affairs  of  this  world,  in 
which  they  knew  they  were  but  pilgrims  and  sojourners,  to 
deem  them  worth  recording  :  for  which  reason,  no  au- 
thentic history  of  political  or  civil  events,  of  any  very 
great  antiquity,  exists.  Hence  the  well-known  remark  of 
the  learned  Varro  :  that  the  space  of  time  before  the  flood 
was  a^JrjXov, — the  period  of  utter  obscurity  ;  that  the  age 
from  tlie  flood  to  the  first  Olympiad  was  jau&ixov — the 
period  of  fable  or  mystery  ;  and  that  it  was  only  with  the 
first  Olympiad  that  conunenced  the  period  ifopixov — that 
of  literal  history.     The  reason  why  the  genius  of  these 


THE     SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  395 

ancients  led  them  to  describe  interior  subjects  in  the  lan- 
guage of  allegory,  was,  because  the  illumination  of  their 
minds  was  such  as  to  enable  them  to  discern,  in  natural 
objects,  the  images  of  the  spiritual  and  divine  things  which 
are  the  causes  of  their  production  ;  be'cause,  as  elegantly 
expressed  by  Mr.  Kirby,  "  the  creation  was  to  them  a  book 
of  symbols,  a  sacred  language,  of  which  they  possessed  the 
key,  and  which  it  was  their  delight  to  study  and  decy- 
pher."  Hence,  wiien  they  wished  to  communicate  to  oth- 
ers their  interior  perceptions,  they  would  veil  their 
thoughts  in  language  borrowed  from  natural  objects  and 
occurrences.  Wliilst,  indeed,  this  knowledge  was  possess- 
ed intuitively,  they  probably  would  not  think  of  writing 
at  all.  The  whole  creation  was  to  them  an  open  book  : 
whatever  they  had  occasion  or  desire  to  know,  they  there 
could  read  :  every  object  in  it  spoke  to  thein,  in  the  clear- 
est terms,  of  tlie  supreme  objects  of  their  regard, — of  God, 
and  heaven,  and  heavenly  things;  and  reading  every  thing 
there,  they  had  no  occasion  for  any  books  beside.  But 
when  this  faculty  of  intuitive  perception  begun  to  decline, 
in  consequence  of  their  beginning  to  turn  their  affections 
towards  outward  objects,  instead  of  only  using  these,  as 
before,  as  means  for  nourishing  their  love  for  heavenly 
things  as  contemplated  in  them  ;  whilst  yet,  among  the 
better  sort,  a  desire  for  the  knowledge  of  heavenly  things 
remained;  then,  we  may  conclude,  they  would  study  those 
things  as  a  science  Avhich  they  before  knew  by  intuition. 
Then  books  would  begin  to  be  composed,  in  Avhich  they 
would  endeavour  to  express  their  meaning  by  analogies 
taken  from  the  objects  of  nature,  the  knowledge  of  which 
they  woidd  long  regard  as  the  first  of  sciences,  and  the  dis- 
tinguisliing  mark  of  wisdom  and  learning. 

Now  the  early  chapters  of  Genesis  treat  of  the  people 
who  were  of  this  character  and  genius, — both  of  those  who 
had  an  intuitive  perception  of  spiritual  things  in  natural 
objects,  and  of  those  who  enjoyed  the  knowledge  of  them 


396  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

by  science  and  study  ;  and  therefore  that  part  of  the  book 
is  written  in  a  style  similar  to  that  which  those  people 
used  ;  that  is,  spiritual  and  interior  subjects  are  described 
in  language  borrowed  from  the  appearances  of  nature, — 
in  the  form  of  apologue  and  allegory, — in  a  narrative  that 
appears  in  the  letter  to  relate  only  to  natviral  and  ordinary 
facts.  Whole  classes  of  people,  whose  modes  of  thinking 
and  feeling,  especially  in  regard  to  sacred  subjects,  were 
similar,  are  personified  as  one  man,  to  whom  an  age  is  as- 
signed, answering,  probably,  to  the  period  during  which 
the  principles  represented  continued  to  prevail  :  the  man- 
ner in  which  one  class  of  religious  sentiment  and  profes- 
sion is  propagated  from  another  is  described  by  family  de- 
scents :  and  the  fates  among  mankind  of  religion  in  gene- 
ral, or  the  vicissitudes  which  the  church  of  God,  under 
different  forms,  experienced,  are  represented  by  the  for- 
tunes of  these  allegorical  personages.  That  such  a  mode 
of  describing  such  subjects  is  agreeable  to  nature,  is  evi- 
dent from  the  tendency  to  it  which  still  occasionally  shews 
itself ;  of  which  many  examples  might  be  given  from  mo- 
dern compositions. 

(3.)  That  such  is  the  character  of  the  Scripture  history 
antecedent  to  the  birth  of  Abraliam,  may  also  be  inferred 
from  the  similarity  which  is  observable  between  the  events 
which  it  relates  and  the  traditionary  accounts  of  the  ancient 
heathen  mythologers.  This  resemblance  has  been  observed 
by  many  of  the  Christian  advocates,  from  Justin  and  Cle- 
mens to  Bryant  and  Faber  ;  and  has  been  dwelt  upon  as 
affording  a  strong  testimony  to  the  authenticity  of  the 
Mosaic  writings.  Many,  hoAvever,  have  here  run  into  an 
error,  which  has  thrown  a  shade  of  doubt  and  suspicion 
over  all  that  they  have  urged  upon  the  subject  :  they  have 
assumed,  that  whatever  exists  in  heathen  writings  which 
bears  some  similitude  to  facts,  or  apparent  facts,  detailed 
in  our  Scriptures,  was  borrowed  from  this  source:  and  they 
wlio  do  not  affirm  this,  consider  such  fables  of  the  heathens 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  397 

to  be  mere  distortions  of  matters  of  fact,  which  are  simply 
true  as  recorded  in  the  Bible.  But  the  argument  in  favour 
of  the  authority  of  the  Volume  of  Revelation  is  much 
stronger,  when  it  is  admitted,  as  doubtless  is  the  truth, 
that  neither  the  mythological  stories  nor  the  correspond- 
ing relations  in  Genesis  are  details  of  external  facts,  but 
both  are  allegorical  records  of  the  same  facts  in  the  moral 
and  spiritual  history  of  mankind,  handed  down  through 
different  channels  :  the  former  being  the  productions  of 
men  who  possessed  the  knowledge,  and  wrote  in  the  style, 
which  was  common  to  the  learned  of  those  ages  ;  and  the 
latter  being  also  composed  in  the  style  which  was  common 
to  those  times,  so  far  as  this  consisted  in  the  purely  allego- 
rical character  of  the  narration,  but  written  by  absolute  in- 
spiration, and  thus  possessing  all  the  fulness  and  truth  which 
inspiration  only  can  convey.  This  will  account  for  the 
considerable  variety  in  the  images  under  which  the  cir- 
cumstances are  described.  Thus,  for  example,  we  have  the 
record  in  Scripture  of  the  termination  of  two  distinct  dis- 
pensations of  divine  things  to  man  ;  the  first  of  which,  be- 
ginning with  Adam,  closes  with  the  flood  ;  and  the  other, 
which  commenced  with  Noah,  began  to  be  corrupted  at 
the  building  of  the  tower  of  Babel,  and  was  totally  so  by 
the  abominations  which  were  plunged  into  by  the  Canaan- 
ites,  the  Egyptians,  the  Assyrians,  and  other  nations  which 
flourished  in  those  ages,  and  which  originally  were  branch- 
es of  the  Noetic  Church.  These  events  are  evidently  the 
same  as  are  described  in  the  Grecian  mythology,  by  the 
two  wars  waged  against  heaven  by  two  different  races  of 
giants,  the  first  called  the  Titans,  and  the  second,  simply 
the  giants.*  The  first  race  is  described  in  Scripture  by 
the  giants  which  are  said  to  have  existed  before  the  flood, 
and  who  are  represented  as  having  sprung  from  the  inter- 
course of  the  sons  of  God  with  the  daughters  of  men  ;  and 

'  See  our  third  Lecture,  p.  141  and  145. 


398  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

the  second  race,  though  not  denominated  giants  in  the 
Scriptures,  are  they  who  undertook  the  gigantic  enterprise 
of  building  a  tower  whose  top  should  reach  to  heaven, — 
an  enterprise  very  similar  to  that  of  scaling  heaven  by  a 
pile  of  mountains.  By  these  relations,  both  the  mytholo- 
gical and  Scriptural,  is  not  meant  that  a  race  of  people  of 
enormous  stature  then  existed  ;  but  giants,  in  the  language 
of  Analogy,  are  they  who  are  great  in  their  own  conceit  ; 
and  such  giants  as  are  here  spoken  of,  were  they  who  abso- 
lutely looked  upon  themselves  as  deities,  arrogating  all 
merit,  all  goodness,  and  all  wisdom  to  themselves,  and  not 
allowing  that  every  thing  they  possessed  which  Avas  really 
good  was  imparted  to  them  by  gift  and  perpetual  deriva- 
tion from  the  Lord  alone.  In  short,  the  symbol  of  mon- 
strous giants  was  adopted,  to  represent  those  who  fell  into 
such  direful  persuasions,  as  to  imagine  that  the  Deity  had 
actually  transfused  himself  into  tliem,  so  as  to  have  no  ex- 
istence independently  of  them  ;  approximations  to  which 
sentiment  are  to  be  found  in  some  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
Greek  philosophers  ;  and  at  this  day  it  lies  at  the  bottom 
of  the  religious  system  of  the  Hindoos,  and  has  decided 
affiliations  in  that  of  Thibet  and  China  :  the  origins  of  all 
which  rise  to  the  highest  antiquity. 

Is  it  not  then,  we  may  now  ask  Avith  confidence,  in  the 
highest  degree  pro1)able,  that  the  early  part  of  Genesis, 
and  the  mythological  tales  which  bear  so  much  resem- 
blance to  it,  relate  to  the  same  facts,  not  in  the  political 
and  civil,  but  in  the  moral  and  spiritual  history  of  man- 
kind ?  that  they  equally  are  composed  in  the  general  style 
prevalent  in  the  ages  to  which  they  refer?  that  neither  the 
one  narrative  nor  the  other  was  ever  intended  to  be  under- 
stood according  to  the  literal  form  ?  that  both  are  inter- 
mixed with  such  stories  as,  in  the  literal  sense,  are  in  the 
highest  degree  extravagant  and  incredible,  purposely, 
among  their  otlier  uses,  to  intimate  to  mankind  that  a 
common   record  of  facts  was  not  intended  ?   but  that  the 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  399 

mythological  tales,  though  originally  composed  by  men 
who  possessed  a  knowledge  ol"  interior  things  and  their 
analogies  with  natural  objects,  yet  not  being  communicat- 
ed by  plenary  inspiration,  have  not  a  spiritual  sense,  except 
as  to  the  general  circumstances,  do  not  exist  in  any  record 
wliich  carries  a  spiritual  idea  in  every  expression,  and  are 
not  always,  perhaps,  exact  representations  of  the  things 
intended  ;  whereas,  in  Genesis,  the  same  occurrences  are 
described  in  language  inspired  throughout,  and  all  the 
representatives  are  infallibly  exact  ? 

We  may,  I  trust,  now  repeat  as  a  certain  fact  :  that  this 
early  part  of  Genesis  is  written  in  the  language  of  pure 
allegory,  because  it  describes  the  moral  history  of  a  peo- 
ple with  whom  that  style  of  writing  was  the  only  one  in 
use  ;  and  because,  further,  it  could  not  be  given  in  the 
style  of  true  but  representative  history,  whilst  the  nation 
afterw^ards  raised  up  to  sustain  the  proper  representations 
was  not  yet  in  existence  ;  and  because,  finally,  these  are 
the  only  two  species  of  narrative  that  can  be  delivered  by 
plenary  inspiration  ;  from  which  source,  a  history  of  mere 
facts,  containing  no  internal  meaning,  never  can  proceed. 

Now  what  objection,  carrying  the  smallest  weight,  can 
be  raised  against  this  view  of  the  subject  ?  I  can  see  none. 
It  solves  all  difficulties,  and  is,  itself,  absolutely  unattend- 
ed by  any.*  Nothing  further,  then,  needs  be  urged  to 
overturn  from  the  foundation  that  class  of  Infidel  Objec- 
tions which  rejects  the  Word  of  God  for  the  alleged  con- 
tradictions to  reason  and  sciOTce  to  be  found  in  this  part 
of  its  contents.  The  literal  history  was  never  intended  to 
be  understood  as  such  ;  it,  therefore,  can  contradict  no- 
thing. The  questions,  then,  respecting  the  manner  and 
order  in  which  the  world  was  created,  and  respecting  the 
vicissitudes  which  its  surface  has  undergone  ;  whether  all 

*  See  Appendix,  No.  VII. 


400  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

tl^e  convulsions  of  which  symptoms  are  apparent  in  the 
disposition  of  its  strata,  and  in  the  vegetable  and  animal 
remains  found  in  its  bowels,  took  place  before  it  was 
brought  into  a  state  fit  for  the  habitation  of  man,  or  whe- 
ther part  of  the  indications  have  been  occasioned  by  a 
general  deluge  which  it  has  undergone  since  ;  are  matter* 
which  may  safely  be  left  for  decision  to  the  unfettered  pro- 
gress of  science.  The  Word  of  God  pronounces  no  dictum 
upon  such  subjects  :  and  nothing  which  Science  may  ever 
bring  to  light  respecting  them,  can,  in  the  slightest  degree, 
affect  the  title  of  the  Scriptures  to  be  received  as  the  Word 
of  God.  The  only  bearing  of  all  real  Science  upon  the 
Word  of  God,  is,  to  point  to  and  confirm  its  true  nature. 

2.  The  class  of  infidel  objections  which  we  are  next  to 
consider,  is  that  which  is  drawn  from  apparent  contradic- 
tions between  the  various  statements  made  by  the  sacred 
writers. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true,  as  is  generally  urged  by  the  ad- 
vocates of  Revelation,  that  the  greater  part  of  these  admit 
of  a  sufficient  explanation  when  the  context  is  fairly  consi- 
dered :  but,  as  was  stated  in  the  second  Lecture,  if  there 
are  any  which  cannot  thus  be  reconciled,  it  is,  because,  in 
such  cases,  the  letter  has  yielded  a  little  to  the  weight  of 
the  matters  contained  within  ;  a  slight  turn  has  been  given 
it  to  make  it  express  more  fully  the  spiritual  contents,  re- 
specting which  alone  it  is  the  object  of  inspiration  to  im- 
part instruction.*  Of  this  an  example  was  given,  and  the 
principle  more  explicitly  developed,  in  our  last  Lecture, 
from  the  history  of  Jephthah  and  his  daughter.  Though 
the  circumstances  related  are  true,  they  may  not  immedi- 
ately exhibit  the  whole  truth,  as  far  as  the  outward  his- 
tory is  concerned.  "  Just  so  much  is  recorded  as  conveys 
the  true  spiritual  sense,  and  no   more  :  and  Divine  Wis- 

*  Page  34,  35. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    SlC.  401 

dom,  which  only  regards  things  eternal,  deems  it  of  no 
moment  whatever,  if  an  impression  be  thus  left  of  transient 
events  different  from  tlic  true  one."*  Admit  this  princi- 
j)le,  (and  if  we  admit  that  a  Revelation  from  God  must 
primarily  treat  of  spiritual  subjects,  it  will  be  difficult  to 
dispute  it,)  and  we  shall  find  no  instances  of  seeming  con- 
tradiction which  can  occasion  the  smallest  embarrassment 
to  tlie  candid  inquirer. 

(1.)  In  the  case,  for  instance,  of  the  turning  of  the  wa- 
ters of  Egypt  into  blood,  by  Moses  and  Aaron  ;  when  it  is 
afterwards  said  that  "  the  magicians  did  so  with  their  en- 
chantments  ;"  upon  which  the  Deist  asks,  When  all  the 
water  of  Egypt  was  changed  before,  how  could  the  magi- 
cians repeat  the  operation  .-'f — It  is  here  well  answ^efed 
from  the  letter,  that  the  context  shews  that  water  was  still 
attainable  for  the  experiment,  since  we  read,  two  verses 
below,  that  "  the  Egyptians  digged  round  about  the  river 
for  water  to  drink."  If,  however,  it  had  been  more  diffi- 
cult to  account  for  the  manner  in  which  the  magicians 
obtained  their  water,  there  still  would  have  been  a  neces- 
sity, to  convey  the  spiritual  lesson  intended,  that  the  nar- 
rative should  be  so  framed  as  to  imply  in  the  letter,  that 
all  the  waters  of  Egypt  were  changed  into  blood  by  Moses 
and  Aaron,  and  yet  that  the  magicians  performed  a  like 
miracle  afterwards.  The  subject  here  spiritually  treated 
of  is  respecting  the  false  persuasions  which  adhere  to  those 
who  cultivate  natural  science,  but  oppose  themselves  to 
the  will  of  God  and  the  truth  of  his  Word,  and  respecting 
the  judgments  with  which  they  are  visited  to  compel  them 
to  desist.  The  waters  of  Egypt  are  all  the  truths  possess- 
ed by  such  persons  :  blood,  when  considered  in  any  way 
different  from  its  proper  relation,  is  the  symbol  of  truth 
to  which  violence  is  done  by  wresting  it  from  its  just  ap- 
plication.    Moses  is  the  type  and  representative  of  that 

«  Pase  334,  33-^.  t  ??«•  the  first  l.<*rtiirfi.  p.  02 

.31 


402  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

Law  or  Word  which  was  given  by  his  instrumentality  ; 
and  Aaron,  as  his  prophet,  or  spokesman,  represents  the 
trne  doctrine  or  instruction  which  that  teaches.  The 
miracle,  therefore,  was  performed  bythem^  to  indicate,  that, 
before  the  wicked  are  finally  condemned,  their  real  state, 
as  Divine  Truth  discovers  it,  is  shewn  to  them.  But 
"  the  magicians  did  so  with  their  enchantments,"  to  re- 
present  how  the  natural  man  finds  excuses  for  not  setting 
his  heart  to  consider  the  divine  judgments  when  openly 
displayed  before  him,  referring  them  to  other  causes  :  in 
fact,  the  magicians  are  the  proper  types  of  that  ingenious 
mode  of  reasoning  from  fallacies,  which  resolves  the  most 
express  interferences  of  Deity  into  the  common  operations 
of  nature.  The  spiritual  lesson,  surely,  is  deeply  interest- 
ing, and  the  analogies  from  which  it  results  self-evident  : 
to  yield  those  analogies  is  the  main  thing  regarded  in  the 
construction  of  the  letter  :  and  when  matters  so  weighty 
are  to  be  expressed,  it  surely  is  more  important  that  the 
language  of  the  sacred  history  should  be  such  as  gives  the 
spiritual  contents  in  all  their  fulness,  than  that  it  should 
be  absolutely  fiee  from  obscurity  in  regard  to  all  the 
minutiae  of  the  literal  details  ! 

But  the  difficulties  in  the  literal  narratives  of  the  Word 
of  God  which  appear  most  considerable,  to  those  who  do 
not  attend  to  the  proper  design  with  which  all  the  narra- 
tives of  the  AVord  of  God  are  constructed,  are  those  which 
are  presented  by  the  frequently  varying  accounts  of  the 
four  Evangelists. 

(2.)  The  question,  why  so  many  as  four  authentic  Gos- 
pels should  have  been  written,  has  embarrassed  not  a  few 
inquirers.  Many,  even  of  those  Avho  have  no  prejudice 
a<^ainst  them  on  account  of  any  part  of  their  contents, 
would  be  glad  of  a  plausible  pretext  for  ejecting  some  of 
them  from  the  Canon  :  thus  the  celebrated  Michaelis,  en- 
tertaining the  common  notions  of  inspiration,  regarding  it 
as  a  personal  and  permanent  endowment,  and  being  at  a 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  403 

loss  for  a  certain  rule  to  discriminate  between  composi- 
tions which  are  inspired  and  sucii  as  are  not,  would  fain 
limit  the  inspiration  of  the  New  Testament  to  the  Apos* 
ties'  writings  alone  :  and  he  intimates  that  no  small  advan- 
tage would  result  from  accepting  Apostleship  as  the  crite- 
rion of  inspiration,  since  there  would  then  be  but  two 
Gospels  which  we  should  be  concerned  to  harmonize.* 
But  if  we  regard  the  historical  Scriptures  as  containing 
throughout  a  spiritual  meaning,  and  conclude  that,  where 
the  same  general  fact  is  variously  related,  it  is  for  the  sake 
of  teaching  the  same  general  spiritual  leS)On  with  some 
specific  modifications  ;  we  shall  have  no  need  to  wish  that 
tlie  number  of  inspired  books  weie  fewer,  or  to  murmur 
at  their  Divine  Author  for  the  abundance  of  his  benefits. 

The  Apostle  and  Evangelist  John  concludes  his  gospel 
with  observing,  "  There  are  also  many  other  things  which 
Jesus  did,  the  which,  if  they  should  be  written  every  one, 
I  suppose  that  even  the  world  itself  could  not  contain  the 
books  that  should  be  written.'^  This  would  be  an  extra- 
vagant hyperbole  indeed,  if  it  referred  to  the  acts  of 
Jesus  as  they  appeared  in  their  simple  performance  ;  but 
it  becomes  a  sober  truth,  if  we  understand  by  it,  all  that 
was  included  and  involved  within  the  outward  appear- 
ances. Only  let  it  be  acknowledged,  or  supposed  even, 
that  Jesus  was  "  the  Word"  or  Divine  Truth  itself  "  made 
flesh, "f  thus  was  God  Incarnate  ;  and  it  follows  inevita- 
bly, that  there  must  have  been  an  infinity  of  meaning  in 
every  one  both  of  his  words  and  of  his  actions  ;  and  it 
may  be  easily  conceived,  that  one  mode  of  narrating  them 
would  be  insufficient  for  their  fidl  representation. 

Perhaps,  also,  in  agreement  with  that  unvarying  con- 
stancy with  which  all  the  divine  operations  follow  fixed 
laws,  there  may  be  some   divine  law  which   rendered  it 

*  Introd.  by  Marsh,  Vnl.  i.  Ch.  iii.  Sec.  3  ;  Vol.  iii.  Pt.  i.  Cb.  ii.  Sees.  4  and 
i)  ;  Ch.  vi.  Sec.  3.  f  John  i.  14. 


404  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

necessary  that  the  Gospels  should  neither  be  fewer  nor 
more  than  four  :  indeed,  if  inspiration  be  allowed  to  them, 
such  must  be  the  fact  ;  since  it  were  a  contradiction  in 
terms  to  affirm,  that  Divine  Inspiration  produced  the  exact 
number  of  four  Gospels  by  chance.  It  is  somewhat  re- 
markable, that  we  read  respecting  the  "  river  which  went 
out  of  Eden  to  water  the  garden,"  that  "  from  thence  it 
was  pai'ted,  and  became  into  four  heads  :"*  and  it  seems 
possible  t^at  the  coincidence  was  not  unintentional,'  which 
was  noticed  by  an  ancient  father  ;  that  "  there  were  four 
Evangelists,  four  rivers  of  Paradise,  four  corners  and  four 
rings  to  the  ark  of  the  covenant  ;"f  not  that  the  first  of 
these  circumstances  was  the  cause  of  the  others,  nor  even 
that  the  otliers  were  provided  to  form  types  of  the  first  ; 
but  that  they  all  owed  their  origin  to  the  same  general 
principle  ; — that  the  same  law  regulating  the  descent  of 
divine  things  into  nature,  governed  the  one  circumstance 
as  the  others.  Now,  what  could  the  rivers  of  Paradise 
represent,  but  the  streanls  of  truth  and  wisdom  which 
nourished  the  mind  of  man  in  his  paradisiacal  state?  And 
why  were  there  four  of  them,  but  because  that  number  ex- 
presses fulness  and  abundance?  for  it  is  a  number  which  is 
used  in  reference  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  world, — the 
east,  west,  north,  and  south, — in  connexion  with  which  it 
is  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures;:]:  and  while  each 
of  these,  singly,  refers  to  some  specific  quality,  the  four 
together  manifestly  stand  for  the  whole.  So,  if  the  four 
rivers  of  Paradise,  together,  were  representative  of  the  truth 
and  wisdom,  in  all  their  fulness  and  abundance,  which,  in 
the  primeval  ages,  animated  and  endowed  the  human  mind; 
each  of  them  must  have  been  the  symbol  of  some  general 
class  of  these  graces.  What  this  is,  is  discoverable  from 
the  import,  in  the  language  of  Analogy,  of  the  four  quar- 

*  Gen.  ii.  10.  t  Jerome,  ajnid  Lardncr,  vol.  xii.  p.  82. 

I   As  when  John  "  »a.\v  f(mr  angels  standing  on  the  four  corners  oftht  earth, 
holding  \\\f  four  winds  of  the  earth."     Rev.  vii.  1. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSliRTED,    &.C.  405 

ters,  from  which  the  number  four  draws  its  signification  of 
fulness.  The  east,  being  considered  as  the  seat  of  the  sun, 
represents  much  tlie  same  as  the  sun  does, — a  state  of  love, 
and  of  the  illumination  immediately  proceeding  from  love, 
in  its  highest  intensity  ;  and  the  west  is  the  same  general 
state  in  a  lower  degree:  so  the  south  is  expressive  of  a  state 
of  intelligence,  with  its  attendant  charity,  in  the  highest 
brightness  ;  and  the  north  of  the  same  as  verging  towards 
obscurity.  Thus  the  east  and  west,  and  the  south  and 
north,  are  to  each  other,  respectively,  as  the  internal  and 
external  of  one  general  principle.  If  the  cardinal  points 
did  not  bear,  in  the  language  of  Analogy,  which  is  that  of 
the  Word  of  God,  some  such  meaning,  would  they  be  so 
frequently  noticed  in  that  Word  ;  and  this  even  in  its  pro- 
pliecies  and  visions  ?*  Now  what  if  four  Gospels  were 
given,  describing  the  history  of  the  birth  and  ministry  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with  a  reference  to  these  four  gene- 
ral states  ?  to  be  divine  streams  of  truth  and  wisdom,  pos- 
sessing, respectively,  these  general  qualities  ?  to  form  the 
unfailing  rivers  of  the  Christian  Paradise, — the  church, — 
supplying  to  its  inhabitants  the  Vvaters  of  life  ?  I  throw 
out  this  suggestion,  not  as  a  certain  truth,  but  because,  to 
me,  it  yields  a  probable  reason  for  the  number  of  the  Gos- 
pels, and  because  it  includes  ideas,  which,  as  we  shall  see 
presently,  tend  considerably  to  clear  up  the  mystery  of 
their  varying  statements.  To  me,  also,  it  appears  quite 
evident,  that  the  obviously  distinct  characters  of  the  seve- 
ral Gospels  tally  remarkably  with  those  which  this  view 
supposes.  Will  not  all  who  venerate  these  sacred  narra- 
tives confess,  that  the  Gospel  of  John  displays  the  highest 
order  of  tiie  illumination  here  alluded  to,  treating  more 
openly  of  the  highest  subjects  of  divine  illumination,  which 
are,  the  true  nature  and  character  of  Him  whose  history  it 

*  See  Ezekiel's  vision  of  the  New  Temple,  in  the  last  nine  chapters  of  his 
book,  and  John's  of  the  New  Jernsalem  ;  Rev.  xxi.  For  the  ffpntral  frequen- 
cy with  which  the  quarters  are  mentioned,  see  a  Concordance. 


406  PLENARY     INSPIRATIO?f     OF 

relates,  and  the  necessity  of  love  to  his  name  ?  that  tlie 
Gospel  of  Luke,  with  its  sweet  delineations  of  charity,  and 
luminous  statements  of  so  many  essential  trutlis,  ranks  next 
in  clearness?  and  that  those  of  Matthew  and  Mark,  though 
fully  imbued  with  the  same  spirit,  treat  their  subjects  in  a 
more  external  manner,  or  clothe  them  with  a  somewhat 
thicker  veil,  and  are  to  the  former,  respectively,  what  the 
north  and  west  are  to  the  south  and  east  ? 

(3.)  Supposing  there  to  be  any  truth  in  this  view  of  the 
subject,  the  reader  of  the  Gospels  would  expect,  that,  in 
recording  any  transaction,  each  Evangelist  would  relate 
such  of  the  circumstances  attendinor  it  as  belonged  to  the 
proper  character  of  his  Gospel,  and  would  omit  others  : 
and  if  tliere  are  any  cases  in  which  the  circumstances  re- 
lated by  different  Evangelists  are  quite  incompatible  with 
each  other,  he  would  expect  further,  that  the  narrative  of 
the  facts,  as  they  actually  appeared  to  the  senses  of  the  be- 
holders, would  most  probably  be  found  in  one  of  those 
Gospels,  (Matthew's  or  Mark's,)  wliich  treat  the  subjects 
under  their  most  external  form  ;  wliilst  the  seemingly  in- 
congruous circumstances,  if  any,  mentioned  by  the  others, 
equally  belong  to  tlie  transaction,  but  exhibit  the  inward 
state  of  mind  of  the  parties  concerned,  which  did  not  ma- 
nifestly appear  in  the  words  or  actions  actually  spoken  or 
performed,  but  yet  were  as  really  present  as  those  words 
or  actions  themselves. 

This  suggestion  may  be  illustrated  in  a  very  familiar 
manner.  Every  one  knows  how  frequently  the  words  and 
actions  of  persons  in  society  greatly  differ  from  their  in- 
ward thouglits  and  inclinations.  To  take  a  rather  coarse, 
but  too  common  example  :  liow  often  does  the  greedy  ex- 
pectant of  a  profitable  reversion,  ex|)ress  with  his  lips  a 
great  desire  for  the  restoration  of  the  sick  possessor's 
health,  when  the  language  of  his  heart  is,  "  I  wish  you 
were  dead,  out  of  the  way  !"  Now,  if  these  words  were 
actually   ascribed  to  him   by  a  narrator   who   knew  the 


THE    SCniPTUUES    ASSERTED,    &C.      _  407 

heart,  there  woukl  be  no  real  contradiction  between  this 
account  and  that  of  another  wlio  reported  the  language  of 
his  tongue  :  they  would  both  record  ditl'erent  parts  of  the 
same  transaction,  and  both  records  would  be  true,  though 
one  of  them  could  iiave  flowed  fiom  the  pen  of  none  but 
an  inspired  writer.  Tiiis  is  so  obvious  an  idea,  that  I  re- 
member to  have  seen  it  very  pleasantly  illustrated  in  a  fa- 
ble for  the  instruction  of  youth.  The  writer  imagines  the 
existence  of  an  edifice  called  the  Palace  of  Trulh  ;  the  in- 
mates of  which  are  unconsciously  compelled  to  speak  and 
act  according  to  their  real  thoughts  and  inclinations  :  the 
consequence  is,  that  they  are  continually  disgusting  each 
other  by  rudeness  of  language  and  demeanour,  whilst  they 
fancy  themselves  to  be  behaving  with  perfect  good  n;an- 
ners,  and  saying  the  civilest  things  imaginable.  Who 
doubts  that  the  universe  is,  to  its  Architect,  a  Palace  of 
Truth,  in  which  the  inmost  thoughts  are  as  audible  as  the 
outward  declarations  ? 

But  not  only  is  there  frequently  this  palpable  difference 
between  the  thoughts  and  inclinations  and  the  words  and 
actions — a  difference  of  which  the  parties  themselves  are 
sensible  ;  but  doubtless  there  is  much  more  included  with- 
in every  single  idea  of  thought  than  comes  to  the  appre- 
hension of  him  who  conceives  it:  and  if  the  moving  springs 
from  which  it  arises,  with  all  their  complications,  were 
discovered  to  him,  they  would  sometimes  be  so  diflferent 
from  what  he  himself  suspects,  that  he  would  hardly  re- 
cognise himself  in  them,  though  they  belonged  to  the  very 
essence  of  his  distinguishing  charaeter.  If  then  these  un- 
conscious thoughts  and  inclinations  were  actually  ascribed 
to  him  by  the  pen  of  that  Omniscience  to  which  they  are 
all  known,  the  picture  drawn  of  him  \vould  still  be  in  ex- 
act accordance  with  the  reality,  though  the  likeness  w^ould 
not  be  discernible  to  a  superficial  observer. 

We  now,  I  apprehend,  shall  be  in  possession  of  the  true 
principles  for  reconciling  the  seeming  discrepancies  of  the 


408  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

divinely  inspired  recorders  of  the  Gospel-history. — When 
circumstances  are  omitted  by  one  Evangelist  which  are 
mentioned  by  another,  it  is,  becau^^e  they  belong  to  a  dif- 
ferent specific  modification  of  the  same  general  spiritual 
lesson,  and,  in  fact,  to  a  different  order  of  Divine  Truth, 
from  those  which  it  is  within  the  province  of  that  Evan- 
gelist to  deliver. — When,  if  ever,  the  circumstances  are 
such  as  could  not,  both,  have  outwardly  occurred,  one  of 
them  is  the  expression  of  the  state  of  mind  of  the  parties, 
within  or  above  their  outward  speech  and  actions:  it  gives 
such  developements  of  inward  character  as  would  have 
taken  place  had  the  parties  been  speaking  or  acting  in  the 
Palace  of  Truth  ;  and,  to  carry  on  the  allegory,  it  belongs, 
sometimes  to  the  lower  and  sometimes  to  the  upper  stories 
of  that  edifice,  or  is  more  near  to,  or  more  remote  from, 
the  actual  consciousness  of  the  actors  or  speakers. 

From  theory,  let  us  now  descend  to  facts,  and  try  the 
application  of  our  principles  to  the  actual  relations  of  the 
Gospels. 

(4.)  A  remarkable  example  of  variations,  from  both 
these  causes,  is,  I  conceive,  afforded  by  the  history,  as  de- 
livered by  the  four  Evangelists,  of  the  treatment  of  the 
Lord  .Tesus  Christ  at  his  crucifixion,  and  of  his  behaviour 
on  the  cross.  Matthew  and  Mark,  agreeably  to  their  office 
of  presenting  things  as  they  appeared  to  the  outward  ob- 
server, and  also,  as  they  were  perceiv^ed  by  the  parties  in 
the  lowest  and  most  external  sphere  of  their  thoughts  and 
feelings,  are  very  full,  especially  the  former,  in  the  detail 
of  the  cruel  insults  which  were  heaped  upon  the  Saviour 
in  that  dismal  scene.  They  describe  all  the  bitterness  of 
his  temptation  thence  arising,  and  the  severity  of  his  men- 
tal as  well  as  bodily  suffering.  They  record  his  despairing 
exclamation,  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken 
me  :"*  and  these,  as  far  as  can  be  gathered  from  them, 

-  Matt,  xxvii.  46.  Mark  xv.  34. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  409 

were  the  only  words  uttered  from  the  cross.  Luke,  on 
tlie  contrary,  states  much  less  of  the  aggravating  scoffs 
with  which  the  Redeemer  was  assailed  as  lie  hunjr,  and 
narrates  nothing  in  his  conduct  which  indicates  that  the 
sufferings  inflicted  on  Jiim  engaged  much  of  his  attention. 
According  to  this  Gospel,  wlien  going  to  execution,  he  says 
to  the  mourning  women,  "  Daughters  of  Jerusalem,  weep 
not  for  me,  but  weep  for  yourselves,  and  for  your  child- 
ren."* Instead  of  any  exclamation  of  despair  upon  the 
cross,  we  have  this  effusion  of  imperturbable  confidence  : 
"  Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit  :"f  and 
these,  with  the  encouraging  declaration  to  one  of  the 
thieves,  and  a  jiraj^er  for  his  murderers,  were,  as  far  as 
can  be  gathered  from  this  Evangelist,  the  only  words  ut- 
tered by  him  in  that  situation.  How  plain  then  is  it,  that 
Luke  relates  the  perceptions  and  feelings  of  Jesus  on  this 
occasion,  as  they  existed  in  a  sphere  of  his  mind  above 
that,  the  sensations  of  which  are  recorded  by  Matthew  and 
Mark  ;  with  the  words  which  he  spoke  from  this  different 
order  of  sentiments  !  And  still  more  is  this  the  case  with 
the  narrative  of  John.  This  seems  to  describe  his  feelings 
in  a  sphere  of  his  mind  to  which  no  consciousness  what- 
ever of  his  indignities  and  sufferings  reached.  It  therefore 
does  not  at  all  notice  the  insults  addressed  to  him  on  the 
cross.  He  is  represented  as  occupied  with  no  considera- 
tions whatever  which  regarded  himself.  To  represent  his 
care  of  the  church,  which  ever  dwells  with  those  of  whom 
"  the  disciple  whom  he  loved"  was  a  type,  "  he  saith  to 
his  mother,"  in  reference  to  that  disciple,  "  Woman,  be- 
hold thy  son  !"  and  to  the  disciple,  who  thenceforth  took 
her  to  his  own  home,  "  Behold  thy  mother  !"|  To  ex- 
press his  ardent  desire  for  man's  salvation,  and  "  that  the 
Scripture  might  be  fulfilled,"  he  exclaimed,  "  I  thirst. "§ 
And,  so  far   from  indicating  any  feeling  bordering  upon 

*  Ch.  xxiii.  26.         t  Ver.  46.         t  Cli.  xix.  26,  27.         §  Ver.  28. 
52 


410  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

despair,  he  does  not  even  express  any  sense  of  needing  sup- 
port: he  does  not,  even  in  appearance,  refer  to  any  Divine 
Helper  out  of  himself;  but,  experiencing  already  a  perfect 
consciousness  of  his  union  with  Divinity,  and  "knowing 
that  all  things  were  now  accomplished"  necessary  to  effect 
that  union,  and  with  it  to  secure  the  redemption  of  man- 
kind, he  simply,  and  with  divine  composure,  says,  "It  is 
finished."* 

Now  thoiigh  these  very  different  narratives,  may  not, 
regarded  only  as  to  the  letter,  be  irreconcilable  with  each 
other  ;  though  it  is  probable  that  all  the  circumstances  re- 
corded by  each  Evangelist  did  actually  occur;  and  though 
the  very  dissimilar  speeches  related  might  all  actually  be 
spoken  :  yet  every  one  must  see,  that  the  different  narra- 
tives and  the  different  speeches  breathe  different  feelings, 
and  belong  to  decidedly  different  classes  of  sentiment  ; 
which  would  have  been  broken  and  confused  had  they 
been  jumbled  into  one  continued  discourse,  but  are  pre- 
served in  all  their  distinctness  and  beauty,  by  the  wise 
provision  of  Providence,  that  several  Gospels  should  be 
written. 

(5.)  Another  striking  example  of  the  excellence  of  this 
arrangement,  is  afforded  by  the  account  of  the  conduct  of 
the  two  thieves,  as  related  by  Matthew  and  Mark,  and  by 
Luke. 

Without  particularly  dwelling  upon  the  behaviour  of 
these  unhappy  men,  Matthew,  after  mentioning  the  taunts 
of  the  chief  priests  and  scribes,  adds,  "  The  thieves  also, 
which  were  crucified  with  him,  cast  the  same  in  his  teeth  :"f 
Mark  also  says,  "  And  they  that  were  crucified  with  him 
reviled  him  :"|  a  circumstance  deeply  aggravatory  of  the 
Saviour's  sufferings,  when  he  had  to  endure  the  insults  of 
the  very  outcasts  of  society  ;  and  therefore  well  suited  to 
be  introduced  in  the  Gospels  of  Matthew  and  Mark,  the 

*  Ver.  30.  t  Hi.  xxvii.  44.  t  Ch.  xv.  32, 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &,C.  411 

nature  and  design  of  which  necessarily  included  the  insist- 
ing upon  such  details.  Luke,  however,  who  does  not  give 
so  much  of  the  scoffs  of  the  priests  and  scribes,  mentions 
the  reviling  of  one  of  the  thieves  only,  and  this,  chiefly, 
to  contrast  it  with  the  becoming  behaviour  of  the  other  : 
his  words  are  these  :  "  And  one  of  the  malefactors  which 
were  hanged  with  him,  railed  on  him,  saying,  If  thou  be 
Christ,  save  thyself  and  us.  But  the  other  rebuked  him, 
saying,  Dost  not  thou  fear  God,  seeing  thou  art  in  the 
same  condemnation?  and  we  indeed  justly  ;  for  we  receive 
the  due  reward  of  our  deeds  :  but  this  man  hath  done  no- 
thing amiss.  And  he  said  unto  Jesus,  Lord,  remember  me 
when  thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom."*  Now  whether 
both  these  narratives  describe  things  which  took  place  in 
outward  form,  just  as  they  are  related,  or  not  ;  it  is  cer- 
tain, that,  spiritually,  both  narratives  are  true,  and  that 
both  were  necessary  for  conveying  the  spiritual  lesson  in- 
tended. 

Thieves,  in  the  Word,  are  types  of  those  who  deprive 
others  of  truths  by  infusing  false  and  heretical  opinions  ; 
as,  also,  of  those  who  possess  the  knowledge  of  truth,  but 
pervert  it  from  its  proper  object,  which  is,  to  lead  to  a  life  of 
goodness:  they  likewise  represent  such  as  arrogate  to  them- 
selves what  belongs  to  the  Lord.  The  two  thieves,  then, 
are  they  who  act  thus,  either  from  a  confirmed  principle 
of  evil  in  the  will,  or  from  a  false  principle  assumed  by 
the  understanding  ;  and  they  thus  will  represent  the  Jew 
and  the  Gentile  world.  Both  tlicse  classes  of  spiritual 
thieves,  viewed  as  to  their  doctrinal  sentiments,  reviled 
tlie  Son  of  man  ;  both  Jews  and  Gentiles  entertained  opi- 
nions adverse  to  the  true  doctrines  of  the  Word  of  God  : 
and  this  is  represented  by  the  fact  as  stated  by  Matthew 
and  Mark,  that  "  the  thieves,  also,  cast  the  same  in  his 
teeth  :"   "  they  that  were  crucified  with  him  reviled  him." 

*  Luke  xxiii.  39  to- 43. 


k 


412  PLENARY    INSPinATION    OP 

But  though  both  classes  thus  reviled  the  Lord  externally, 
it  was  only  with  one  that  the  outward  conduct  proceeded 
from  an  internal  ground:  Luke,  therefore,  who  relates  the 
circumstances  as  they  exist  in,  or  flow  from,  an  interior 
sphere,  ascribes  determined  malevolence  to  but  one  of  the 
malefactors  :  the  other,  who  is  the  type  of  those  who,  like 
the  Gentiles,  entertain  false  sentiments  merely  from  igno- 
rance, and  of  those  who  fall  into  improper  conduct  because 
they  have  not  had  the  advantage  of  such  instruction  as 
would  teach  them  better,  when  brought,  even  in  this  ex- 
tremity, into  the  presence  of  the  Son  of  man, — made  ac- 
quainted with  the  Truth  Itself, — feels  all  the  compunction 
that  a  conviction  of  his  error  and  misconduct  ought  to  ex- 
cite, and  solicits  the  mercy  of  him  whom  he  is  thus  brought 
to  know  :  and  beca\ise  no  one  in  heart  can  acknowledge 
the  Lord  but  from  some  good  principle,  Jesus  answers, 
"  To  day," — in  this  state, — "  thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  pa- 
radise." Considered  then  as  representative  characters, — 
as  the  types  of  two  classes  of  spiritual  thieves,  there  evi- 
dently is  no  contradiction  whatever  between  the  accounts 
of  Matthew  and  Luke  :  they  describe  different  parts  of  the 
same  general  facts,  and  parts  so  distinct,  being  those  which 
constitute  its  external  form  and  its  internal,  that  they  could 
not  possibly  have  been  included  in  the  same  narrative. 
And  the  case  will  be  the  same,  if,  without  looking  at  the 
thieves  as  types  of  general  classes,  we  regard  them  as  indi- 
vidual transgressors  of  two  different  characters.  Many  a 
one  has  been  led,  by  untutored  passions,  into  excesses 
which  he  never  deliberately  purposed,  and  has  afterwards 
been  awakened,  by  the  voice  of  Truth,  to  the  most  sincere 
feelings  of  remorse.  The  law  may  have  been  so  far  vio- 
lated, that  the  gibbet  must  expiate  the  offence  ;  but  who 
will  affirm  that  the  redeeming  feelings  in  the  heart  of  the 
sufferer  will  go  for  nothing  in  his  final  account,  though, 
being  beyond  the  eye  of  the  human  judge,  they  cannot 
change  his  doom  here  ?     Every  criminal  act  reviles  the 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  413 

Son  of  man:  but  we  cannot  positively  affirm,  of  every  one 
who  has  been  hurried  into  the  commission  of  a  criminal 
act,  that  his  heart  does  the  same.  The  outward  conduct, 
then,  of  these  two  characters,  in  which  they  appeared  si- 
milar to  each  other,  is  described  by  Matthew  and  Mark, 
and  their  inward  state,  in  which  they  were  dissimilar,  by 
Luke. 

Seeing  then  the  spiritual  reason  for  the  variation  of  these 
narratives  is  so  evident,  and  the  spiritual  lessons  they  in- 
culcate are  so  completely  satisfactory  ;  to  know,  how  far 
the  facts  mentioned  by  Matthew  and  Luke  appeared  mani- 
festly before  the  spectators  of  the  scene,  becomes  a  matter 
of  perfect  indifference.  It  may  be  true,  as  some  of  the 
commentators  suppose,  that  both  the  Gospels  relate  facts 
as  they  happened  ;  that  both  the  thieves  at  first  joined  in 
blasphemous  language,  but  that  afterwards  one  repented, 
and  behaved  as  stated  by  Luke  :  supposing  it  were  so,  the 
view  we  have  offered  above  clearly  explains  why  neither 
Evangelist  states  both  facts  :  to  have  done  this,  would 
have  confused  the  spiritual  sense,  and  would  have  been  a 
deviation  from  the  proper  character  of  his  Gospel.  It  may 
be  true,  again,  that  Luke  alone  relates  the  facts  as  they 
happened,  and  that  the  penitent  thief  never  reviled  with 
the  other  :  and  in  this  case,  whether  we  suppose,  with 
most  of  the  critics,  that  Matthew  and  Mark,  who  say,  "  the 
thieves,^^  and  "  i/iey,"  loosely,  and  not  "  both  the  thieves," 
and  "  both  of  them,"  emphatically,  use  the  jilural  number 
for  the  singular  by  the  grammatical  figure  called  enallage 
(of  which  they  produce  several  examples)  ;  or  whether  we 
conclude  that  they  were  really  ignorant  of  the  different 
circumstances  recorded  by  Luke  ;  we  still  see,  as  before, 
that  there  is  no  mistake  in  the  matter,  and  that  the  spirit- 
ual sense  of  the  whole  transaction  would  have  been 
mutilated  had  not  both  records  of  it  been  made.  Or, 
finally,  the  outwardly  apparent  circumstances  might 
only  have  been  those  given   by   Matthew  and   Mark  ; — 


414  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OP 

either,  positively,  both  thieves  did  revile,  or  this  might 
be  said  because  one  of  them,  though  silent,  gave  no  out- 
ward indication  of  dissent  from  the  conduct  of  the  other  ; 
and  still  it  may  be  perfectly  true  that  the  language  of  their 
heart  vi^as  that  given  by  Luke,  though  what  this  spoke,  in 
the  penitent,  was  only  audible  to  him  to  whom  all  hearts 
are  known  ;  if,  however,  such  sentiments  were  actually 
heard  by  Him,  he  did  not  make  one  Evangelist  contradict 
another,  when  he  caused  him  to  give  them  an  open  tongue. 
One  or  other  of  these  three  solutions  must  be  the  true 
one  ;  tohich,  is  to  us  of  no  moment  whatever  :  and  it  is  plain 
from  either  of  them,  that  the  Gospels  are  not  here  really 
at  variance,  but  only  relating  different  parts  of  the  same 
transaction,  which  all  belonged  to  it  with  equal  truth. 

We  mentioned,  in  our  first  Lecture,  two  of  the  other 
seeming  difficulties  on  which  infidel  writers  have  founded 
objections  ;  and  as,  though  solvable  upon  the  same  princi- 
ples, they  rather  differ  in  kind  from  those  just  considered, 
it  may  be  expected  that  we  shall  not  dismiss  them  without 
specific  notice. 

(6.)  The  first  of  these  is  the  circumstance,  that  in  the 
history  of  the  temptation  of  .Jesus  in  the  wilderness,  as  de- 
livered by  Matthew*  and  by  Iiuke,f  there  is  an  inversion 
of  the  order  of  two  of  the  principal  facts  ;  the  first  Evan- 
gelist making  the  devil  set  the  Saviour  on  a  pinnacle  of 
the  temple,  before  he  shews  him,  from  a  high  mountain, 
all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  ;  whereas,  Luke  places  tliis 
latter  circumstance  before  the  other.  Regarded  as  a  record 
of  outward  facts,  there  must  here  be  allowed  to  exist  a 
difficulty  ;  but  there  will  remain  none  at  all  when  it  is 
admitted,  that  to  communicate  information  respecting  the 
same  general  spiritual  fact  is  the  main  design  in  both  nar- 
ratives ;  but  that  this  general  fact   includes  two  leading 

^  Ch.  iv.  1  to  Jl.  t  Ch.  iv.  1  to  13. 


THP.    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  415 

branches,  one  of  which  is  represented  by  one  Evangelist, 
and  the  other  by  the  other. 

It  must  here  be  observed,  that  all  the  circumstances  of 
this  temptation  prove  strongly  the  generally  spiritual  na- 
ture of  the  Gospel-history,  and  evince  that  it  treats  of 
spiritual  subjects  under  natural  representatives.  For  who 
can  imagine  that  Jesus  Christ,  as  to  his  person,  was  thus 
at  the  disposal  of  the  devil  ?  was  personally  transported 
by  him  from  the  wilderness  to  a  high  mountain,  and 
thence  to  the  summit  of  the  temple  in  "  the  holy  city  ?" 
or  that,  to  effect  the  temptation,  Satan  shewed  himself  in 
proper  form,  and  carried.it  on  by  actual  colloquy  ?  And 
where  could  the  mountain  be  found,  so  "  exceeding  high," 
that  from  the  top  of  it  might  be  seen,  by  any  optics,  "  ail 
the  kingdoms  of  the  world  .'"'  Some  of  the  critics  would 
surmount  this  difficulty,  by  wishing  us  to  believe,  that  the 
world,  here,  only  means  the  land  of  Judaea  :  but  how  will 
the  phrase,  "  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,"  apply  to 
this  little  speck  of  it  ?  Doubtless,  then,  it  was  in  spirit, 
and  in  vision,  that  these  things  were  presented  to  the  Sa- 
viour's perceptions  ;  just  as  Ezekiel  was  transported  "  in 
the  visions  of  God  to  Jerusalem,"*  and  as  John  also  was 
"  carried  away  in  the  spirit  to  a  great  and  high  moun- 
tain."! Thus  the  transaction,  being  altogether  a  spirit- 
ual one,  must  bear,  in  all  its  circumsta,nces,  a  spiritual 
signification. 

A  mountain  is  a  symbol,  in  the  Scriptures,  of  an  exalted 
state  of  love,  either  heavenly  or  infernal  :  to  be  incited, 
thence,  to  desire  the  possession  of  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world,  is  to  be  tempted  with  the  lust  of  self-aggrandize- 
ment, either  as  regards  the  monopoly  of  all  power,  or  of 
all  wealth,  or  of  both  :  to  be  set  upon  the  pinnacle  of  the 
temple,  and  thence  incited  to  do  a  rash  act  that  includes 
the  persuasion  of  possessing  divine  power,  is  to  be  tempt- 

*  Ezok.  viii.  'i.  t  Rev.  x.\i.  10. 


416  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

eel  by  a  still  more  extravagant  species  of  the  lust  of  power, 
— what  may  be  called  the  ecclesiastical  thirst  for  dominion, 
— that  which  aims  at  sovereignty  over  men's  souls  as  well 
as  their  bodies.  But  the  ultimate  end  which  is  proposed 
by  any  passion  that  sways  the  human  breast,  is  what  de- 
termines its  positive  quality.  There  doubtless  have  been 
Popes  and  Grand  Lamas,  who,  in  arrogating  dominion 
over  the  souls  of  men,  have  made  this  pretension  and  lust 
subservient  to  the  desire  of  temporal  power  and  wealth  : 
the  latter  have  been  their  supreme  objects  of  regard  ;  and 
the  former  has  been  valued  as  a  means  to  the  attainment  of 
these  ends.  These  then  have  yielded  to  the  suggestions  of 
Satan,  as  they  are  represented  by  Matthew.  Other  occu- 
pants of  the  pontifical  thrones  of  Rome  and  of  Lassa,  have 
unquestionably  been  possessed,  as  their  ruling  aim  and  ob- 
ject, with  the  lust  of  spiritual  domination,  and  have 
grasped  at  temporal  power  and  wealth  as  calculated  to 
promote  it  :  These  then  have  adopted  the  persuasions  of 
the  devil,  as  they  are  arranged  by  Luke.  Thus,  while  it 
is  perfectly  evident  that  there  exist  these  two  general  kinds 
of  the  lust  of  domination,  it  aj)pears  no  less  certain,  that 
each  of  them  undergoes  a  modification,  as  it  is  made  sub- 
servient or  paramount  to  the  other.  This  is  even  indicat- 
ed by  the  Evangelists  in  the  minute  distinctions  of  their 
language  :  thus  Luke,  who  represents  the  appetite  for  tem- 
poral power  and  wealth  as  subservient  to  the  ecclesiastical 
lust,  calls  the  symbol  of  the  state,  simply  a  "  high  moun- 
tain ;"  whilst  Matthew,  who  exhibits  it  as  predominant, 
exalts  its  symbol  into  "  an  exceeding  high  mountain."  Now 
it  cannot  be  doubted,  since  the  Saviour  "  was  in  all  points 
tempted  as  we  are,"* — was  made  sensible  in  the  human  part 
of  his  constitution,  of  the  strongest  instigations  to  every 
evil  that  ever  beset  the  most  corrupt  child  of  Adam  ;  that 
the  tempter  injected  the  propensity  to  both  these  general 

*  Ileb.  iv.  15. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  417 

evils  in  both  these  states  of  their  developement.  But  the 
only  way,  in  the  language  of  analogies,  in  which  the  two 
forms  of  them  could  be  described,  was  by  placing  the 
representatives  of  them  befoi'e,  and  after,  each  other,  re- 
spectively. To  have  done  this  in  the  same  narrative 
would  have  appeared  a  strange  tautology  ;  neither  would 
it  have  expressed  the  order  of  their  manifestation  or  exist- 
ence, the  one  abiding  within,  or  occupying  a  more  interior 
sphere  than,  the  other.  Therefore  the  symbolic  descrip- 
tion of  each  is  given  in  a  separate  book  :  and  as  Matthew's 
Gospel  treats  of  things  in  their  more  exterior,  and  Luke's 
in  their  more  interior  developements,  therefore,  in  agree- 
ment with  the  respective  characters  of  the  narratives,  the 
more  exterior  and  superficial  developement  of  these  dire- 
ful evils  forms  the  subject  of  the  temptation  as  described 
by  the  first  Evangelist ;  while  the  latter  represents  them 
in  their  more  interior  form,  and  opens,  in  its  still  deeper 
recesses,  their  diabolical  nature. 

(7.)  The  only  other  case  which  we  have  to  notice,  is 
that  in  which  Matthew  cites  a  text,  as  from  the  prophet 
Jeremiah,  which  is  only  to  be  found  in  the  book  of  Zech- 
ariah  :  he  gives  it  thus  :  "  Then  was  fulfilled  that  which 
was  spoken  by  Jeremy  the  prophet,  saying.  And  they  took 
the  thirty  pieces  of  silver,  the  price  of  him  that  was  val- 
ued, whom  they  of  the  children  of  Israel  did  value,  and 
gave  them  for  the  potter's  field  ;  as  tbe  Lord  appointed 
me."*  In  an  ordinary  writer,  this  certainly  would  argue 
strange  negligence  :  but  what  if,  occurring  where  it  does, 
it  affords  a  positive  argument  for  the  Evangelist's  plenary 
inspiration  ?  What  ii  it  should  be  absolutely  impossible 
for  a  writer  whose  pen  was  irresistibly  guided  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  to  cite  these  words,  how  well  soever  he 
might  know  that  he  had  read  them  in  Zechariah,  without 
ascribing  them  to  Jei-emiah  ?      Such,   I  apprehend,   will 

*  Matt,  xxvii,  9, 10.     Comp  Zech.  xi.  12,  13* 

63 


k 


41S  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OP 

readily  appear  to  be  the  fact.  And  indeed,  how  is  it  pos- 
sible that  the  change  of  name  could  have  originated  in 
mistake  ?  Is  it  credible  that  Matthew  could  know  so  lit- 
tle of  the  Scriptures  as  to  be  ignorant  in  what  book  the 
words  were  extant  ?  And  if  so  monstrous  an  improbabili- 
ty might  for  a  moment  be  supposed,  is  it  imaginable  that, 
among  those  to  whom  he  first  communicated  his  Gospel, 
there  was  none  who  possessed  sufficient  knowledge  of  the 
ancient  Word,  with  which  every  Jew  was  familiar  from 
his  cradle,  to  inform  him  of  the  erratum  9  Really  the  dif- 
ficulties of  conceiving  it  to  be  an  unintended  error,  are 
greater  than  those  of  supposing  that  it  was  a  dictate  from 
the  Spirit  of  God  :  they  indeed  are  such  as  directly  point 
to  this  conclusion.  And  in  this  we  shall  find  an  easy  and 
natural  solution  of  the  whole  seeming  inconsistency. 

If  the  Word  of  God  be  the  Word  of  God  indeed,  it  is  a 
mere  truism  to  affirm,  that  the  Spirit  which  dictated  it 
cannot  possibly  regard  it  as  tlie  work  of  men  :  consequent- 
ly, that  Spirit  can  never  mean  to  ascribe  any  of  its  books 
to  the  men  whose  names  they  bear.  Every  prophet  who 
was  commissioned  to  deliver  any  portion  of  the  Word  of 
God,  became,  ipso  facto,  a  representative  type  of  the  Word 
of  God  itself  ;  specifically,  of  that  portion  of  it  which  he 
was  the  instrument  of  writing.  Now  every  such  portion 
of  it  has  a  distinctive  chaiacter  of  its  own,  more  or  less 
obviously  discriminated.  So  plain  is  this,  in  some  in- 
stances, as  to  have  become  proverbial  :  thus  Isaiah  is  com- 
monly called  the  evangelical  prophet,  on  account  of  his  open 
annunciations  of  the  incarnation  of  the  Lord  and  his  ad- 
vent in  the  flesh  ;  and  Jeremiah  is  popularly  denominated 
the  weeping  prophet,  for  his  pathetic  lamentations  over  the 
fall  and  utter  corruption  of  the  Jewish  Church,  and  its 
rejection  and  maltreatment  of  the  Word  of  God,  in  its  per- 
sonal type,  the  prophet  himself,  and  in  its  still  plainer  type, 
the  roll  of  inspii-ed  writing  which  Jelioiakim  committed  to 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  419 

the  flames.*     Wlien  therefore  a  prophet  is  cited  by  name 
in  the  inspired  writings,  it  is  not  that  propliet,  personally, 
that  was  in  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  nor  even  the 
specific  book    which    bears  his  name  :    but  his   name  is 
used  as  a  symbol  of  all  that  portion  of  Scripture  which  is 
of  the  same  character  as  belongs,  generally,  to  the  writings 
of  the  prophet  named,  whether  occurring  in  his   book   or 
in  any  other.     Usually,  indeed,  it  cannot  but  happen,  that 
the  passage  quoted   is  in  tlie  book   of  the   prophet    who 
stands  as  the  type  of  that   species  of  divine   composition 
which  distinguishes  his  own  writings  :  but  where  occasion 
occurs  for  citing  a  passage   of  a  different  character  from 
that  which  belongs,  in  general,  to  the  book  in  which  it  is 
found,  and  of  the   same  as   belongs  to  another  principal 
prophet.  Divine   Inspiration,  which   regards   the  intrinsic 
qualities  of  things  and  not   merely  their  external   circum- 
stances, adduces  the  quotation  in  the   name   of  the  latter 
prophet  instead  of  the  former.      Of  this,  indeed,  only  this 
one  instance  occurs  :  it  cannot,  therefore,  be  illustrated  by 
other  examples  :  but  this  one  itself  is  admirably  illustra- 
tive of  the  principle,   and  points   to   it  with    a    clearness 
which  it  were  difficult  to  overlook.    The  weeping  prophet, 
Jeremiah,  we  have  noticed,  though  a  real  character,   is  a 
striking  personification  of  that  species  of  Divine  Truth,  or 
of  that  portion  of  the   Divine  Word,  which  treats  of  the 
utter  corruption  of  the  Jewish  Church,  and  its   maltreat- 
ment of  the  AVord  :  the  latter  is  precisely  the  character  of 
the  divine  declaration  which  is  here  cited  as  from  him  ;  it 
treats  of  the  low  estimation  in  which  the  Word  was  at  this 
time  held  by  the  Jews,   who  hoped  to  have  purchased  of 
Judas  the  power  of  destroying  its   actual   personification, 
the  Word  incarnate.      And  whilst  this  passage  is  so  decid- 
edlv  of  the  same  character  as  distinguishes  the  writings  of 
Jeremiah,  it  as  evidently  does  not  at  all  belong  to  tlie  gen- 


CJi 


420  PLENARY    INSPIRATION     OF 

eral  character  of  the  book  of  Zechariah,  which  is  mostly 
composed  in  a  cheering  strain,  and  dwells  more  upon  the 
restoration  of  the  church,  and  her  glorious  state  in  conse- 
quence of  receiving  the  Lord  as  the  Word,  than  of  her 
previous  debasement  and  infidelity.  The  two  subjects  are 
nearly  connected  together,  since  the  one  event  follows  the 
other  ;  and  hence  the  prophets  seldom  dwell  long  upon 
the  desolation  of  the  church  and  her  rejection  of  the  Lord, 
without  some  reference  to  her  restoration  and  her  reception 
of  him  :  but  the  one  subject  constitutes  the  predominant 
topic  of  Jeremiah,  and  the  other  of  Zechariah  :  wherefore 
the  Spirit  of  Inspiration  designates  the  statements  which 
even  Zechariah  delivers  on  the  former  subject,  by  the 
name  of  its  proper  type,  Jeremiah. 

Surely  I  may  be  allowed  to  say,  how  satisfactory,  and 
how  beautiful,  is  this  explanation  !  It  is  a  perfectly  easy 
solution  of  a  difficulty,  which,  upon  every  other  theory, 
is  insurmountable.*  But  from  our  system  it  flows  unforc- 
ed ;  and  not  only  so,  but  as  a  natural  and  necessary  result. 
May  we  not  then  assume,  that  both  the  solution  and  the 
system  must  indubitably  be  true  ? 

,  The  Doctrine  that  the  Sacred  Scriptures  every  where 
contain  a  spiritual  sense,  for  the  sake  of  conveying  whicli 
the  letter  is  constructed,  with  a  knowledge  of  the  just 
mode  of  decyphering  it  by  the  Doctrine  of  Representation 
and  Analogy,  will  solve  every  other  seeming  contradiction 
in  the  statements  of  the  inspired  writers.  To  examine,  in 
this  manner,  all  the  passages  in  the  Gospels  which  appear 
contradictory,  would  constitute  a  work  of  much  interest : 

*  It  is  affirmed  by  some,  that  Jeremiah  is  named  instead  of  Zechariah, 
because  he  ancientl}'  stood  first  in  the  copies  of  the  prophets,  and  so  might  be 
taken  as  a  name  for  them  all :  but  that  there  is  no  authority  for  such  an 
assertion,  is  sufficiently  shewn  in  the  Appendix,  No.  II.  Others  consider 
the  name  of  Jeremiah  to  be  an  accidental  interpolation  ;  but  certainly  it  were 
such  an  interpolation  as  it  could  never  come  into  the  head  of  any  scribe  to 
make. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSKIITED,    icC.  421 

but  our  design  in  the  present  work  is,  simply  to  lay  down 
the  principles  upon  which  they  are  to  be  solved,  and  to 
illustrate  the  applicability  of  the  theory  to  the  facts,  by 
such  examples  as  might  be  necessary  for  that  purpose. 
This  may  now  have  been  done.  And  I  trust  that  it  can- 
not but  be  seen,  that  the  varying  statements,  proceeding 
from  inspired  pens,  may  all  equally  be  true,  and  may  de- 
tail circumstances  which  equally  belong  to  the  same  trans- 
action, though  sometimes,  possibly,  to  such  parts  of  it  as 
were  beyond  the  ken  of  ordinary  observation,  and  could 
have  been  known  to  none  but  inspired  writers.  Of  their 
inspiration,  then,  such  circumstances,  fairly  interpreted, 
actually  become  evidences.  Thus  in  this  case,  as  in  every 
other,  the  system  of  interpretation  wdiich  we  propose, 
wrests  the  weapons  of  the  infidel  out  of  his  hands,  and 
makes  them  assist  in  demonstrating  the  divinity  of  the 
Scriptures. 

3.  On  the  Class  of  Objections  which  are  drawn  from 
the  imperfect  morality  of  some  of  the  distinguished  cha- 
racters of  the  Israelitish  Church,  little  needs  be  added, 
after  the  view  given  of  the  design  of  the  calling  of  that 
people,  and  of  the  nature  of  their  history,  in  our  last 
Lecture. 

(1.)  Admit  the  Israelites  to  have  been  chosen  merely  to 
represent  the  subjects  belonging  to  the  church  ;  and  con- 
sider all  the  persons  distinguished  among  them  as  repre- 
sentative characters  only  ;  and  all  difficulties  arising  from 
the  questionable  morality  of  some  of  them  immediately 
disappear.  We  then  see,  how  the  record  may  be  essen- 
tially the  Word  of  God,  notwithstanding  the  craft  imputed 
to  the  immediate  founder  of  the  nation,  their  adherence  to 
eastern  manners  in  regard  to  the  intercourse  of  the  sexes, 
and  the  acts  of  violence  and  treachery  Avhich  several  of 
their  heroes  and  heroines  scrupled  not  to  commit.  Some 
of  these  might  perhaps  be  allowable  according  to  the  laws 


422  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

of  nations  that  prevailed  in  those  distant  ages  :  but  still 
they  were  such  as  could  not,  themselves,  have  been  agree- 
able to  the  divine  will,  or  have  been  practised  by  persons 
who  were  the  subjects  of  a  spiritual  dispensation.  The 
slaughter,  noticed  in  our  first  Lecture,  of  Eglon  by  Ehud, 
though  effected  under  fair  pretences,  and  thus  by  treache- 
ry, was  indeed  no  more  than  would  have  been  done,  and 
gloried  in,  by  tiie  most  illustrious  lieroes  of  Greece  and 
Rome,  among  whom  tyrannicide,  by  whatever  means  ac- 
complished, was  deemed  highly  meritorious  :  but  it  may 
be  doul)ted  whether  any  national  opinions  or  customs 
would  justify  the  still  more  insidious  act  of  Jael.  What 
then  ?  Does  this  prove  that  the  book  in  which  they  are 
recorded  is  not  the  Word  of  God  ?  Far  from  it.  It  only 
proves  that  the  Jews  were  not  the  subjects  of  rt  real  church, 
possessing  inward  principles  of  life  and  grace,  but  only  of 
the  type  of  a  churchy — of  a  dispensation  which  symbolized 
spiritual  things  by  external  acts,  the  performers  of  which 
might  be  far  from  any  participation  of  spiritual  feelings. 

(2.)  How  heavenly  things  might  be  occasionally  repre- 
sented even  by  acts  of  violence,  has  been  shewn  at  large  in 
the  last  Lecture  :  and  Vt'hen  this  is  seen,  every  objection 
which  the  infidel  can  raise  against  the  divine  origin  of  the 
Scriptures  on  this  ground,  is  entirely  surmounted.  We 
also  see  Iiow  greatly  they  err,  who  propose  the  exploits  of 
the  Jewish  worthies,  in  their  outward  form,  as  things  for 
the  imitation  of  Christians  ; — a  principle  which,  at  various 
periods,  has  been  adopted  by  fanatics,  wlio  have  perpetrat- 
ed the  greatest  outrages  under  its  sanction.  The  crimes 
of  the  Old  Testament  saints,  as  they  are  considered,  have, 
likewise,  always  formed  the  main  bulv/ark  of  Antinomian- 
ism  ;  which  hence  has  invented  the  profane  sentiment, 
that  the  saints  are  often  permitted  to  fall  into  great  sins, 
to  convince  them  that  salvation  is  by  faith  only,  and  to 
make  tlicm  more  illustrious  examples  of  the  soveieigiity  of 
grace.     Kut  when  David,  foi'  instance,   is  no   longer   con- 


THE    SCniPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  423 

sidered  as  the  'pattern  of  a  saint,  but  as  the  type  of  one,  there 
is  an  end  to  the  pretended  sanction  of  lust  and  cruelty, 
drawn,  and  which  I  have  myself  known  to  be  drawn  and 
openly  avowed,  from  some  of  his  actions.  The  worst 
parts  of  his  conduct  will  then  only  be  viewed  as  symboliz- 
ing the  discovery  which  must  be  made  to  the  highly  gra- 
duated Christian,  to  become  the  ground  of  his  humility 
and  self-abhorrence,  of  the  tendencies  to  evil  which  lurk 
in  the  recesses  of  his  heart  ;  not  as  intimating  that  he  may 
appropriate  and  practise  such  evils,  and  hope  for  impuni- 
ty. This  will  be  perfectly  evident,  if  we  consider,  for  a 
moment,  who  that  Saint  or  Holy  One  specifically  is,  of 
whom  David  was  eminently  a  type. 

This  king  of  Israel  is  allowed,  in  his  highest  reference, 
to  be  a  type  of  the  "  King  of  saints,"* — the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  But,  ^he,  it  is  admitted  by  all,  though  "  in  all 
points  tempted  as  we  are,"  yet  was  "  without  sin."f  Sin 
is  evil  appropriated  in  the  will  and  thought,  and  brought^ 
when  convenient  opportunity  serves,  into  act.  Jesus  was 
"  without  sin  :"  how  then  could  David,  in  his  fall,  be  a 
type  of  him  ?  Because,  though  never  was  the  slightest 
evil  appropriated  by  the  Redeemer  in  will,  thought,  or 
act,  but  always  instantly  rejected  with  a  "  Get  thee  hence, 
Satan  ;"|  yet,  in  the  nature  taken  by  him  from  the  human 
mother,  were,  before  it  was  renewed  by  spiritual  conflicts, 
the  same  tendencies  as  belong  to  ordinary  humanity  :  As 
the  Apostle  declares,  '•  In  all  things  it  behoved  him  to  be 
made  like  unto  his  brethren  :"§  and  since,  in  the  nature 
taken  from  the  mother,  the  likeness  was  so  complete,  "  we 
have  not  a  high  priest  who  cannot  be  touched  with  the 
feeling  of  our  infirmities. "11  Had  it  been  otherwise,  it 
would  have  been  impossible  for  Hell  to  have  approached 
him  with  temptations,  and  thus  the  great  end  of  his  com- 
ing would  have  been  defeated  ;    which,  according  to   the 


Rev.  XV.  3.     t  Ileb.  iv.  15.     X  Matt.  it.  10.     §  Heb.  ii.  17.     ||  Ch.  iv.  l-" 


434  PLKNAIIY    INSPIRATION    OF 

same  Apostle,  was,  "  that  through  death  he  might  destroy 
him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil ;  and 
deliver  them  who,  through  fear  of  death,  were  all  their 
lifetime  subject  to  bondage."*  The  death  he  underwent 
included,  not  only  the  death  of  the  material  frame,  but  of 
every  principle  of  his  constitution  which  partook  of  hu- 
man infirmity,  and  which  presented  an  impediment  to  his 
returning  to  perfect  union  with  his  Father  ;  and  this  death 
he  was  undergoing  through  the  whole  period  of  his  life  : 
"  I  have  a  baptism  to  be  baptized  with  ;  and  how  am  I 
straitened  till  it  be  accomplished  !"f  The  fall  of  David, 
then,  represented,  not  the  falling  into  sin  of  Him  who  was 
"  without  sin,"  but  the  deep  temptations  undergone  by 
him,  from  the  action  of  "  him  that  had  the  power  of 
death"  upon  those  principles  of  human  nature  appertain- 
ing to  him  which  were  susceptible  of  the  influence  :  the 
remorse  and  penitence  of  David  typified  the  utter  rejec- 
tion, by  Jesus,  of  every  thing  in  his  nature  which  could  be 
susceptible  of  such  an  excitement  j  and  David's  restora- 
tion to  divine  favour,  the  renewal  of  the  Lord's  human 
nature,  and  of  every  principle  in  it,  by  communication 
from  his  divine. 

Now  how  could  the  perceptions  and  feelings  which  must 
have  been  experienced  by  Jesus  during  the  suffering  of  this 
inward  process,  be  otherwise  represented,  than  by  a  detail 
of  corresponding  outward  acts  9  And  what  could  those  out- 
ward acts  which  were  positively  sinful  typify,  in  regard  to 
Him  who  was  without  sin,  but  his  experimental  discovery, 
that  the  tendencies  to  it  were  inherent  in  that  human  na- 
ture of  which  he  had  become  a  partaker,  and  which  in 
him,  as  in  us,  was  to  be  "  made  perfect  through  suffer- 
ings .'*":j:  For  he,  also,  "  learned  obedience  by  the  things 
which  he  suffered  ;  and  being  made  perfect,  he  became  the 
Author  of  eternal  salvation  unto  all  them  that  obey  him."§ 

*  Ch.  ii.  14,  15.         t  Luke  xii.  50.  j  Heb.  ii.  10.  §   Ch.  v.  8,  9. 


THE     8CIIIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  425 

What  then  is  the  doctrine  tauglit  by  this  part  of  the  his- 
tory of  David,  to  the  Christian  ?  What  but  tliis  ?  that  he 
has  in  his  nature  the  seeds  of  the  evils  which  in  David 
proceeded  to  such  flaf^itious  acts.  And  what  is  the  practi- 
cal lesson  taught  by  this  part  of  David's  conduct,  viewing 
him  as  the  type  of  a  saint,  and  decyphering  the  type  by 
comparing  it  with  the  known  Antitype,  the  king  of  saints  ? 
that  it  is  excusable  in  the  Christian,  because  he  has  the 
seeds  of  such  evils  in  his  nature,  to  adopt  them  in  his  will, 
or  thought,  or  act,  as  was  done  by  the  type  9  No  !  but  that, 
like  the  great  Antitype,  who  alone  is  his  pattern,  he  is  to 
engage  in  conflict  with  them  within  ;  to  reject  them  as 
soon  as  he  is  made  sensible  of  their  existence  in  his  breast  ; 
and  to  seek  from  above  for  that  renewal  of  the  heart, 
which,  far  from  favouring  the  least  tendency  to  evil,  de- 
lights in  nothing  but  goodness  and  purity.  This  is  the 
real  use  which  is  to  be  made  by  the  Christian  of  the  histo- 
ry of  David.  Referred  to  his  acknowledged  chief  Anti- 
type, it  becomes  intelligible  at  once.  We  are  to  study 
him  as  a  type,  not  as  an  example,  and  are  to  take  for  our 
example  the  Antitype  alone.  Accordingly,  the  Lord  never 
says  to  his  disciples,  "  Follow  David,"  but,  continually, 
"  Follow  me."* 

Under  such  views  of  the  Word  of  God  as  these,  what 
becomes  of  the  blasphemous  imputation  of  its  encouraging 
immorality  .'' 

(4.)  With  regard  to  the  charge  of  Insignificance, 
brought  against  great  part  of  the  Word  of  God,  it  cannot 
now  be  necessary  to  say  a  syllable.  When  it  is  seen  that 
every  part  of  the  Sacred  Records  is  profoundly  significant, 
and  that  the  most  apparently  trifling  ceremonies,  direc- 
tions, and  statements,  include  representations  of  things  of 
all  others  the  most  important  to  immortal  beings  ;  the  im- 
putation against   them   of  Insignificance   comes  with   the 

*  Mat.  iv.  19  ;  viii.  22 ;  ix.  9  ;  xvi.  24 ;  xix.  21  ;  «S»c. 

54 


42^6  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

same  weight,  as  would  attend  a  decree,  censuring  the 
structure  of  the  universe,  and  pronouncing  the  unimpor- 
tance of  the  stars,  issued  by  a  conclave  of  moles. 

After  this  view  of  the  bearing  of  all  Infidel  objections 
against  the  Word  of  God  as  rightly  understood,  may  it  not 
be  assumed  as  certain,  that  all  such  objections  arise  from 
taking  a  merely  superficial  view  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures, 
and  from  an  utter  ignorance  of  their  true  nature  ? 

May  I,  then,  now  hope,  that  the  affirmation  made  in  the 
first  Lecture*  will  be  considered  as  made  good  ?  Does  it 
not  clearly  appear,  that  'to  adduce  from  such  considera- 
tions as  are  urged  by  Deists  an  argument  against  the  di- 
vine inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  is  entirely  to  mistake 
the  whole  nature  of  the  case  ?  Is  it  not  evident,  that  the 
argument  thence  deduced  falls  to  the  ground  of  itself,  as 
soon  as  the  true  nature  of  the  Word  of  God  is  seen,  and 
the  design  is  regarded  with  which  it  was  given  to  man- 
kind ?  In  short,  is  it  not  a  fact,  that  a  view  of  the  true 
nature  of  the  Divine  Word  overturns  from  the  foundation 
the  whole  fabric  of  Infidel  Objections  ?  that  it  takes  the 
ground  on  which  the  Infidel  stands  in  making  his  objec- 
tions, entirely  away  from  under  his  feet  ? 

III.  But  although  the  objections  of  Infidels  avail  nothing 
whatever  against  the  Word  of  God,  as  it  is  in  itself,  they 
are  not  so  contemptible  when  urged  against  the  views  of  it 
which  commonhj  'prevail.  They  aff*ord  no  argument  at  all 
when  advanced  to  prove  that  tlic  Scriptures  have  no  ori- 
gin in  Divine  authority  ;  but  they  yield  an  irrefragable 
one  wlien  applied,  as  they  only  ought  to  be  applied,  to 
evince  that  the  Sfii])tures  must  contain  mucli  more  in 
their  bosom  than  is  extant  on  the  surface. 

On  this  sul)jcct,  then,  I  fain  would  address  an  earnest 
appeal  to  all  Christian  advocates,  ami  to  all  the  portion  of 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &iC.  427 

the  Christian  world  in  general,  who  adhere  to  the  merely 
literal  interpretation.  I  would  say  to  them,  with  all  re- 
spect, Consider,  my  brethren,  whose  zeal  in  the  cause  of 
what  you  believe  to  be  the  truth  I  venerate,  and  who,  I 
doubt  not,  are  actuated  by  a  sincere  desire  to  u})hold  the 
credit  of  the  Word  of  God,  how  much  you  compromise 
that  credit,  when  you  afhrm,  (as  we  have  seen  is  now  so 
generally  the  case,)  that  the  Scriptures  are  every  where 
to  be  understood  according  to  the  letter  alone  ;  that  no 
spiritual  sense  is  to  be  looked  for,  unless,  perchance,  in 
those  passages  where  it  is  expressly  referred  to  in  the  New 
Testament  ;  that  the  inspiration  by  which  they  were  writ- 
ten, so  far  from  being  plenary,  and  dictating  the  very 
words  to  the  writers,  did  not  even  secure  them  from  any 
but  "  material  errors.".  It  is  true,  probaldy,  that  you 
have  adopted  these  views  of  the  Scriptures,  from  disgust 
at  the  absurdities  and  abominations  which  have  formerly 
been  advanced,  drawn,  as  was  pretended,  from  their  spi- 
ritual sense  :  but  are  you  sure,  that  while  you  thus  flee 
from  a  lion^  you  have  not  been  met  by  a  bear  V'  Is  the  lite- 
ral sense  attended  with  no  ditliculties  .^  and  is  the  abiding, 
simply,  by  it,  an  unfailing  preservative  from  all  delusion 
and  error  ?  Are  not  some  of  the  greatest  delusions,  such 
as  have  just  been  noticed  of  the  Antinomians  and  other 
fanatics,  the  olTspring  of  the  separated  letter  alone  }  As- 
suredly, then,  even  if,  by  embracing  such  ideas  of  the 
Word  of  God,  you  afforded  no  advantage  to  the  enemies 
of  religion,  you  deprive  your  own  souls  of  great  benefits, 
and  expose  yourselves  to  very  serious  mistakes. 

But  when,  by  thus  binding  the  undeistanding  to  the  let- 
ter alone,  you  give  so  great  odds  to  our  Deist  leal  and  oth- 
er adversaries,  and  so  encum!)er  the  Christian  cause  with 

*  Amos  V.  19.  The  lion,  when  jiiciUioncil  in  a  bad  sense,  is  the  syiii!)ul  of 
such  false  persuasions  as  arise  from  the  perversion  of  llie  interiors  ol'.lhc. 
Wor3  ;  the,  be.ar^  of  such  us  rcsuil  from  abiding  by  tlie  letter  alone,  without 
understaniliuiT  it. 


428  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

difficulties  not  its  own,  as  to  render  it,  in  the  eye  of  rea- 
son, almost  untenable  ;  how  serious  indeed  does  the  mis- 
chief become  !  The  objections,  for  example,  which  are 
urged  from  the  literal  sense  of  the  beginning  of  Genesi?, 
are  fully  demonstrative  against  the  credibility  of  that  sense 
taken  alone  :  they  thus,  as  we  have  seen,  point  to  the  real 
divinity  of  the  Word,  by  pointing  to  a  spiritual  sense  : 
why  then  give  them  a  direction,  Avhich,  without  abating 
an  atom  of  their  force,  makes  them  fatal  to  the  divinity  of 
the  Word  altogether  ?  The  whole  style  of  the  narration 
in  those  chapters  is  such  as  miglit  satisfy  any  one,  that  the 
literal  sense  is  not  that  which  is  intended.  Many  circum- 
stances are  introduced  which  are  clearly  designed,  among 
their  other  uses,  to  demonstrate,  that  a  spiritual  sense  only 
is  what  is  proposed.  In  what  a  situation,  then,  is  the  mo- 
dest inquirer  placed,  when  he  is  told,  that  he  must  either 
give  his  faith  to  incredibilities  which  bear  palpable  marks 
that  they  were  intended  to  be  regarded  as  incredibilities, 
or  must  reject  the  record  altogether  !  Any  one  who  be- 
lieves in  a  God,  may  believe  that,  on  occasions  sufficiently 
important,  a  miracle  may  be  performed, — a  deviation  may 
take  place  from  the  customary  proceedings  of  nature;  and 
he  will  not  reject  a  narration  assuming  to  be  divine  for  af- 
firming such  facts  :  but  the  marvels  of  the  first  chapters  of 
Genesis  are  not  delivered  as  miracles,  but  as  things  in  the 
common  course  of  events  ;  and  the  most  extraordinary  of 
them, — the  talking  of  the  serpent, — if  it  is  to  be  taken  as  a 
miracle,  was  wrought,  not  by  the  hand  of  God,  but  of  Sa- 
tan ;  of  whom,  nevertheless,  not  a  word  is  said  in  the  let- 
ter. To  insist  then  that  the  literal  sense  is  here  to  be  be- 
lieved ;  and  not  only  so,  is  all  that  is  to  be  believed  ;  if  it 
is  not  crucifying  the  Son  of  man  afresh,  is  delivering  him, 
bound,  into  the  hands  of  Pilate  and  his  soldiers,  to  be  by 
them  mocked,  and  scourged,  and  crucified.  The  infidel, 
amid  his  scoffs,  may  now  quote  in  extenuation  the  divine 
^declaration,  "  He  that  hath  delivered   me  unto  thee,  hath 


THE     SCRIPTURKS    AS  Sl.RTl.D,    &,C.  429 

the  greater  sin."*  Indeed,  the  literal  interpreters  ascribe 
such  absurdities  to  the  letter  of  the  Word  as  are  not  to  be 
found  in  it  :  for,  as  has  been  well  remarked,  the  Sacred 
Narrative  does  not,  with  these  interpreters,  refer  the  cau.-e 
of  the  fall  to  the  eating  of  the  produce  of  any  sort  of  natu- 
ral fruit-tree  whatever.  But  when  Condorcet  ridicules 
Christianity  for  imputing  the  origin  of  evil  to  Eve's  eating 
an  apple  ;  if  he  were  asked  where  he  learned  this,  when 
the  Sacred  Record  says  nothing  of  a  tree  that  bore  apples 
or  any  such  fruit,  but  calls  it  "  the  tree  of  the  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil," — thus  plainly  intimating  that  a  spiritti- 
al,  not  a  natural  tree  is  signified  ;  he  might  answer  in  ex- 
cuse, "  The  orthodox  told  me  so  :"  and  Voltaire  might 
make  the  same  apology  for  his  jests  upon  Eve's  tete  a  tele 
with  the  serpent.  How  much  better  was  the  chance  which 
Christianity  stood  with  her  adversaries,  when  Origen  could 
reproach  Celsus  with  dissembling  what  he  could  not  but 
know,  that  the  whole  history  is  an  allegory,  and  was  so 
considered  by  those  whom  he  was  attacking  !  Were  this 
the  unanimous  confession  of  Christians  now,  what  modern 
Celsus  would  think  of  again  levelling  the  shafts  of  ridicule, 
thus  deprived  of  their  point?  Before  he  could  find  a  butt 
to  aim  at,  he  must,  like  Bolingbroke,  change  sides  w  ith 
modern  Christian  advocates,  and  prove,  what  they  have 
laboured  at  so  long,  that  the  literal  sense  is  what  we  are 
here  to  abide  by  :  and  as  the  proof  of  this  would  be  as  im- 
possible to  him  as  to  them,  this  part  of  the  Word  of  God 
would  stand  for  ever  invvilnerable  to  his  assaults. 

The  difficulties  under  which  the  Christian  advocate  la- 
bours in  defending  the  Scriptures,  by  their  literal  sense 
alone,  from  the  charge  of  contradictions,  are  not,  perhaps, 
quite  so  great;  but  still  they  are  such  as  ought  to  convince 
him  of  the  necessitv  of  recurring  to  higher  views  of  the 
subject.     I  wish  not  to  detract  from  the  usefulness  of  the 

*  John  xix.  11. 


I 


430  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

harmonists;  though  I  think  that  no  one  can  ever  have  read 
what  is  called  a  Harmony  of  the  Gospels,  combining  their 
respective  narratives  into  one,  without  feeling  himself  in  a 
maze  of  confusion,  the  consequence  of  its  jumbling  toge- 
ther things  wliich  Infinite  Wisdom  provided  and  intended 
should  be  kept  distinct.  I  acknowledge,  however,  the  va- 
lidity of  some  of  the  solutions  of  seeming  contradictions 
drawn  out  of  the  literal  sense  alone:  but  in  general  I  think, 
it  must  be  allowed,  that  to  seal  that  validity,  and  entitle 
it  to  pass  without  dispute,  higher  interpretations  must  he. 
joined .witli  them  :  for  though  the  solutions  drawn  from 
tlie  letter  alone,  in  many  instances  may  be  true,  a  reason  is 
still  wanting  why  the  appearance  of  a  contradiction  should 
exist, — why  the  direct  literal  interpretation  should  often  be 
such  as  to  involve  a  contradiction.  It  must  be  allowed, 
too,  after  all,  that  many  of  the  solutions  attempted  to  be 
drawn  from  the  letter  alone,  so  desperately  torture  it  to 
wring  them  out,  that,  where  doubt  has  oiice  entered,  they 
can  never  expel  it.  Your  very  friends  confess  this.  "  The 
violent  methods,"  says  Michaelis,  "  wliich  have  been  used 
to  reconcile  the  accounts  of  Mark  and  Luke  witii  those  6f 
the  other  Evangelists,  and  the  insuperable  difficulty  which 
has  hitherto  attended  the  harmony  of  the  Gospels,  have 
cast  a  dark  shade  on  our  religion,  and  the  truth  and  sim- 
plicity of  its  history  have  been  almost  buried  imder  the 
weight  of  explanations. "¥  Why  then,  my  brethren,  not 
accept  the  views  which  alone  can  satisfactorily  remove  all 
difficulty  ?  Why  present  tlie  Scripture  as  a  jewel  of 
agate,  carved  in  sucli  a  manner  as  is  little  suited  for  orna- 
ment, and  yet  insist  that  its  value  consists  in  its  outside 
appearance  alone  ;  when  the-  reasons  of  its  peculiarity  of 
form  would  immediately  appear,  were  it  known,  that  it 
was  made  to  open,  and  that  its  singular  shape  arose  from 
its  exact  adaptation   to  hold  and  preserve   the  rubies  and 

^  Jiifroil.  Vol,  i.  Cli;  iii.  Sec.  3. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  431 

diamonds  wliicli  glow  within  ?  Why  allow  the  world  to 
condemn  as  flaws,  what  are  merely  the  junctures,  designed 
to  lead  the  examiner  fiom  the  surface  to  tlic  contents  ? 

But  again  :  Most  certainly,  none  but  such  views  as  we 
have  offered  of  the  nature  of  the  Israelitish  dispensation, 
can  meet  the  objections  of  the  Deist  on  the  score  of  the 
immoral  cond\ict,  and  the  acts  of  wrong  and  outrage, 
committed  by  those  wiio,  if  we  refuse  to  look  beyond  the 
letter,  were  the  personal  favourites  of  heaven.  You  deny, 
(most  of  you*)  a  typical  character  to  any  persons  or  actions 
which  are  uot  expressly  recognised  in  that  capacity,  in  the 
New  Testament.  You  deny  then  such  a  character  to  Jael 
and  her  slaughter  of  Sisera  :  then  how  justify  or  excuse 
them  ?  It  is  in  vain  to  say,  as  some  have  done,  that  this 
was  a  transaction  for  which  the  performer  alone  was  ac- 
countabFe,  it  not  being  owned  by  the  God  of  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  whereas,  as  noticed  in  our  first  Lecture,  it  is  ex- 
pressly eulogized  by  the  voice  of  prophecy.  With  what 
sort  of  feelings  do  you  read  of  a  woman's  killing  her  guest 
in  his  sleep,  while  you  believe  that  it  was  the  act  itself, 
and  not  something  represented  by  it,  which  was  really 
agreeable  to  him  who  hath  said,  "  Thou  shalt  not  kill  ?" 
Beautiful  and  impressive  does  the  narrative  become,  when 
we  read  in  it  the  manner  in  which  wicked  persons  of  the 
specific  character  represented  by  Sisera,  endeavour  to  es-" 
cape  detection,  by  lurking  behind  the  assumed  appearance 
of  that  species  of  good  of  which  Jael  is  the  type;  and  how, 
when  they  have  thus  filled  up  the  measure  of  their  iniquity 
by  adding  hypocrisy  to.  their  other  vices,  they  sink  into  a 
merely  naturak  state,  of  wliich  sleep  is  the  symI)ol,  and 
thence  pass,  unconsciously,  into  complete  spiritual  death  ; 
nailed  to  tlie  earth, — to  earth-born  feelings, — for  ever. 
Jael  is  thus  seen  as  the  representative  of -goodness  of  a  ge- 
nuine kind,  which  does  not  sutler  itself  to  bo  prostituted 
by  being  made  a  covci'  to  vice.  Here  is  something  on 
which  the  divine  approbation  cannot  but  rest:  but,  without 


432  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

it,  how  vindicate  the  transaction  ?  Persons. even  of  the 
best  disposed  minds,  while  they  look  at  nothing  beyond 
the  letter,  cannot  reconcile  such  a  deed  with  the  universal 
command  proliibitory  of  murder,  but  by  affirming,  that  he 
who  gave  the  precept,  retains  the  right,  when  he  sees  fit, 
to  remit  its  obligation  ;  that  the  occasions  for  its  suspen- 
sion were  communicated  to  such  characters  as  Jael  by  a 
divine  impulse  ;  and  that  the  slaughter  which  ensued  then 
became,  instead  of  murder,  a  judicial  infliction.  But  what 
a  door  would  be  opened  by  this  casuistry  to*the  most  hor- 
rid enormities  !  and  not  a  few  have  actually  been  perpe- 
trated under  its  sanction.  If  a  judicial  infliction  were  all 
that  was  intended,  how  much  more  impressively  would 
this  be  exhibited  by  an  immediate  visitation,  as  in  the  cases 
of  Ananias  and  Sapphira  !*  Indeed,  the  sentiment  leads 
directly  to  the  conclusion,  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
immutable  right  or  wrong  ;  that  He  who  gave  the  moral 
code  could  reverse  it  also.  But  what  a  being  does  this 
make  of  the  Author  of  creation  !  Does  it  not  paint  him 
like  those  tyrants  that  blot  the  pages  of  history,  who  made 
their  mere  will  the  law,  and  whose  will  was  guided  by  ca- 
price alone  ?  It  is  true,  that  the  will  of  God  is,  and  ever  must 
be,  the  standard  of  morals,  and  that  obedience  to  it  must 
always  remain  the  test  of  virtue  :  but  to  imagine  tliat  his 
will  can  be  mutable  ;  that  it  is  not  unalterably  determined 
to  goodness  in  the  abstract;  and  that  essential  goodness  can 
ever  be  any  thing  else  than  love,  or  its  duties  any  but  such 
as  love  would  dictate  : — surely  this  is  to  display  any  but 
a  just  idea  of  the  Divine  Nature  !  It  is,  in  fact,  to  deny 
to  God  any  unalterable  attribute  but  that  of  Infinite  Pow- 
er :  and  the  worshippers  of  mere  Power,  it  may  fairly  be 
affirmed,  would  worship  Satan  himself,  had  it  been  possi- 
ble for  him  to  have  succeeded  in  the  enterprise  which  is 
ascribed  to  him,  and  to  have  seized  the  throne  of  heaven. 

*  Acts  V. 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSF.RTF.D,    &C.  433 

Consider  then,  I  beseech  you,  my  Christian  brethren, 
the  consequences  in  which  you  involve  yourselves,  and  the 
cause  of  God  and  of  Truth,  by  denying  a  regular  spiritual 
sense  to  the  Scriptures  of  Truth.  Consider  how  this  per- 
suasion degrades  the  Word  of  God,  and  disgraces  its  Di- 
vine Author.  Believe  it  to  be  possible  that  inspiration 
really  may  be  inspiration  ;  that  the  Word  of  God  may  be 
the  Word  of  God  indeed,  and  that  the  wisdom  of  God  may 
be  actually  included  in  it.  Look  for  it  then,  as  you 
would  look  for  God  himself.  As  you  do  not  expect  to 
find  Jiim  in  the  scenes  of  nature,  but  in  the  inmost  sphere 
of  mind  ;  so  neither  is  it  reasonable  to  expect  to  find  his 
pure  wisdom  in  the  outward  letter  of  his  Word,  but  in  a 
sphere  within  it.  Look  again,  I  would  also  entreat  you, 
at  the  objections  of  the  Infidels.  Pretend  not  to  meet  them 
in  their  own  valley,  where  they  can  deploy  their  nine 
hundred  chariots  of  iron  ;  but  let  the  array  they  make 
there  convince  you,  as  it  did  Barak,*  of  the  necessity  of 
taking  that  elevated  station  which  is  your  proper  sphere, 
and  of  rushing  down  upon  them  from  thence.  Suffer  them 
not  to  persuade  you  that  the  Scriptures  are  not  the  Word 
of  God  ;  but  permit  them  to  point  out  to  you  what  their 
nature  must  be  if  they  are.  Thus  will  the  weapons  of  the 
Infidel  be  wrested  out  of  his  hands,  and  made  efficient  to 
his  discomfiture;  as  the  sword  of  Goliath  became  an  instru- 
ment of  mighty  efficacy  when  wielded  by  a  David. f  But 
unless  you  deal  with  them  thus,  they  will  eventually  ac- 
complish the  object  at  which  they  aim.  Either  Christians 
must  rise  to  higher  views  of  the  nature  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  of  the  laws  of  their  composition,  or,  I  presume  to  af- 
firm, the  day  will  come,  when  all  veneration  for  them  as  the 
proper  Word  of  God,  all  belief  of  their  having  been  dictated 
by  any  thing  at  all  worthy  of  the  name  of  Inspiration,  all 
sense  of  their  inherent  sanctity,  and  all  communication  by 

*  Judges  iv.  12, 13,  14.  t  1  Sam.  xvii.  r>l  ;  Ch.  xxi.  9. 

55 


454  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

means  of  them  with  God  and  heaven,  will  cease  to  exist 
through  the  greater  portion  of  the  Christian  world.  Avert, 
I  beseech  you,  the  catastrophe,  by  preserving  the  Palladi- 
um in  the  centre  of  the  Christian  Temple.  Cast  not  the 
Ark  of  the  Testimony  out  of  the  Holy  Place.  Regard  the 
Word  as  possessing  an  internal  principle  within  it  :  and 
then,  and  then  only,  you  may  defy  the  fiercest  attacks 
upon  the  outer  bulwarks. 

IV.  But  it  is  time  to  turn  to  the  Deists  :  and  to  them  I 
would  say.  Imagine  not,  men  and  brethren,  should   even 
the  half  of  Christendom  openly  go  over  to  your  side,  that 
you  liave  obtained  any  victory  over  Christianity  or  over 
the  Word  of  God.     Flatter  not  yourselves  that  your  suc- 
cess were  the  triumph  of  truth  over  error  :  it  were  nothing, 
be  assured,  but  a  triumph  of  one  species  of  error  over 
another, — of  simple  fallacy  over  falsified  truth.      It  were 
not  a  triumph  of  the  light  of  nature  over  the  light  of  the  "- 
Word,  but  over  a  view  of  the  Word  which  extinguishes  its 
light  and  that  of  nature  together.      It  has  become  the  gen- 
eral opinion  of  Christians,  that  the  Divine  Word  is  to  be 
understood  in  its  literal  sense  alone  ;  or  rather,  as,    when 
looked  at  merely  in  the  letter,  it  often  cannot  be  under- 
stood at  all,  that  it  is  to  be  simply  believed  :  you  look  at 
it  with  these  preconceived  impressions  ;  and  as  you  thus 
find  in  it  much  that  you  cannot  believe,  and  are  not  led  to 
look  for  its  true  meaning  in  a  higher  sense,  you  reject  it. 
But  what  you  thus  reject  is  not  so  properly  the   Word  It- 
self, as  a  mistaken  idea  of  it,  which  you  have  taken  from 
those  whom  you  regard  as  its  proper  interpreters.     A  very  . 
different  view  of  the  Divine  Book,  and  to  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  none  of  your  objections  are  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree applicable,  has  now  been  laid   before  you.      As  was 
observed  to  me  by  a  gentleman,  once  of  your  sentiment?, 
who  saw,  as  soon  as  this  view  was  presented  to  him,  that 
against  the  Scriptures  thus  intei-preted,  nothing  which  he 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &.C.  435 

had  read  in  the  deistical  writers  would  attach  ; — your 
Paines  and  Volneys  would  here  have  all  their  work  to  be- 
gin again.  An  opportunity  then  is  now  aflbrded  j'ou,  of 
trying  the  sincerity  of  that  love  of  truth  which  you  pro- 
fess so  loudly  :  for  here,  I  hesitate  not  to  say,  is  offered 
you  the  truth  itself ;  that  is,  a  just  view  of  the  Word  of 
Truth  itself  ;  and  this  declares,  by  its  proper  organ,  the 
mouth  of  the  Word  Incarnate,  "  Every  one  that  is  of  the 
trutli  heareth  my  words.". 

But,  alas  !  I  know  too  well  how  many  causes,  very  dif- 
ferent from  the  proper  love   of  truth,  tend  to    swell   the 
ranks  of  Infidelity,  to  expect  that  any  great  proportion   of 
you  will  listen  to  this  appeal.     Though  perfectly  satisfied 
that  the  view  here  offered  is -the  truth,  I  by  no  means   ex- 
pect that  it  will  satisfy  those  confirmed  denieis  of  the  inspi- 
ration of  the  Scriptures,  who,  instead  of  being  desirous  to 
know  the  will  of  God  in  order  that  tliey  may  do  it,  would 
be  better  pleased  to  obtain  demonstration  that  there  were 
no  God  at  all  whose  will  they  need  consider  ; — that  they 
are  free  from  all  obligation  of  regarding  any  Avill  but  their 
own.      Of  those  who,  from  this  ground,  "  hear  not  Moses 
and  the  prophets,"  Divine  Truth  fias  declared,  that  "  nei- 
tlier  would  they  be  persuaded,  though  one  rose   from   the 
dead."*     But  to  such  of  you  as  are  of  a  different   charac- 
ter, who  have  fallen  into  states   af  doubt,   in   consequence 
of  having  been  led  to  fix  your  attention  upon  those  parts 
of  the  Scriptures,  v/hich,  when  regarded  as  to  the  literal 
statements  alone,  appear  repugnant  to  reason,  but  who  feel 
uneasiness  in  consequence,  and  woidd  gladly  see  a  way  by 
which  your  difficulties  might  be  removed  ;  the  view  which 
has  been  developed  may  certainly  afford  all  the  satisfaction 
which  you  can  desire. 

Since  then  there  are   two  so   very  different   origins    of 
scepticism,    I  wauld  earnestly  and  affectionately    exhort 

-  Lukf  .\vi.  -.n. 


436  PLENARY     INSPIRATION     OF 

every  one  who  is  in  such  a  state,  or  who  feels  a  tendency 
towards  it,  dispassionately  to  examine  his  own  heart,  in 
order  to  ascertain  the  first  source  of  his  impressions.  You 
will  all,  perhaps,  eagerly  reply,  that  you  follow  in  your 
sentiments  nothing  but  the  unbiassed  suggestions  of  reason. 
I  would  ask  in  return.  Are  you  sure  of  that  ?  Every  phi- 
losopher knows  what  an  extraordinary  influence  is  exer- 
cised by  the  inclinations  of  the  will  over  the  conclusions 
of  the  understanding  :  it  has  even  become  a  proverbial 
remaik,  tliat  whatsoever  a  man  ardently  wishes  to  find 
true,  he  seldom  fails  in  the  end  to  persuade  himself  is  true. 
Let  then  every  one,  before  he  trusts  too  implicitly  to  what 
he  deems  the  dictates  of  liis  reason,  faithfully  ascertain, 
whether  he  inwardly  icishes  to  find  that  which  is  offered 
him  as  a  Divine  Revelation  true  or  false  :  and  whether,  in 
the  event  of  sufficient  evidence  of  its  truth  being  presented, 
he  is  prepared,  cheerfully  and  without  reserve,  to  follow 
the  course  of  duty  which  it  enjoins.  If  he  can  answer  this 
inquiry  in  the  affirmative,  then  can  we  allow  him  to  be  an 
impartial  inquirer  after  truth,  all  whose  scruples  we  are 
convinced  we  could  satisfy.  Another  test  by  which  any 
one  may  judge  of  his  own  impartiality,  b  this  :  Does  he 
find  as  mucli  satisfaction,  when  looking  over  the  Scrip- 
tures, in  those  passages  which  present  truly  exalted  ideas 
of  God,  and  the  most  pure  and  sublime  precepts  of  moral 
duty,  as  when  he  discovers  statements  which,  to  his  no- 
tions, appear  extravagant  and  irreconcileable  to  reason  .'' 
Does  he  look  for  and  dwell  upon  these  with  satisfaction 
and  triumph  ?  and  does  he  feel  not  disposed  to  look  atten- 
tively at  the  others,  but  to  slur  them  over,  experiencing 
something  like  mortification  at  finding  any  thing  indisputa- 
bly excellent  in  a  book  which  he  would  fain  regard  as 
worthy  of  nothing  but  contein])t  ?  If  so,  it  is  plain  to 
which  of  the  two  classes  of  sceptics  before  described  he 
belongs,  and  he  will  do  well  to  relinquiph  his  boast  of  im- 
partiality, and  to  allow  that  his  rejection  of  the  Scriptures 


THE    SCRirTURF.S    ASSKRTED,    .JLc.  437 

is  not  the  result  of  reason  but  of  prejudice  ; — of  prejiulice, 
the  offspring  of  pride  and  self-conceit,  if  not  of  more  ])al- 
pably  disgraceful  vices. 

He,  on  the  other  hand,  who  is  really  disposed  to  look 
impartially  at  the  matter,  must  surely  feel  his  heart  glow 
with  inward  devotion,  when  he  reads  such  a  description  of 
the  Divine  Majesty,  as  we  quoted  in  our  first  Lecture,  from 
Isaiah  ;  in  which,  as  in  many  other  instances,  the  great 
attributes  of  Infinity  and  Eternity  are  exhibited  with  a 
sublimity  and  force  to  which  Philosophy  never  pretended. 
And  again  :  while  the  Scriptures  so  excel  in  describing  the 
Divine  Majesty  and  attributes,  when  did  Philosophy  deliv- 
er so  striking  and  affecting  a  delineation  of  the  whole  duty 
of  man,  both  to  God  and  his  fellow  creatures,  as  in  the 
declarations  of  Moses,  quoted  by  Jesus  Christ  as  the  proper 
answer  to  an  inquirer,  who  asked,  "  What  was  the  great 
commandment  of  the  law."  "  The  first  of  all  the  com- 
mandments," said  he,  "  is.  Hear,  0  Israel,  the  Lord  thy 
God  is  one  Lord  ;  and  thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy 
mind,  and  with  all  thy  strength  :  And  the  second  is  like 
unto  it  :  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself  :"  to 
which  he  adds  this  emphatic  declaration  ;  "  On  these  two 
commandments  hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets."*  Here 
we  are  plainly  instructed,  that  to  inculcate  love  to  God 
and  man  is  the  design  of  the  whole  Word  of  God  :  if  then 
there  are  any  parts  of  that  Word  in  which  this  design  does 
not  appear  upon  the  surface,  tlie  just  inference  is,  that 
there  is  somethinjj  beneath  the  surface  which  does  not  sliew 
itself  on  a  superficial  inspection.  So,  again,  in  that  other 
beautiful  and  impressive  summary  of  all  moral  duty  : 
"  Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you, 
even  so  do  ye  unto  them;"  to  which  also  the  Divine  Speaker 
adds,  "  for  this   is  the  law   and  the   prophets."!      Now, 


Mat.  x\ii.  3(j  to  lU.  t  Cli.  vii.  I'i. 


438  PLENARY    INSPIRATION    OF 

surely,  none  who  is  animated  by  a  sincere  affection  for 
truth,  and  who  actually  loves  the  charity  which  he  is  so 
ready  to  eulogize,  can  help  feeling  deeply  affected  by  such 
touching  appeals  to  the  heart  and  conscience  as  these  ;  and 
he  who  thus  feels  their  power  cannot  be  disposed  eagerly  to 
reject  as  a  fable  or  a  forgery,  the  whole  book  in  which  they 
are  found,  and  of  which  they  are  a  part  ;  especially,  too, 
when  these  declarations  affirm  so  positively,  that  all  the  rest 
of  the  book  is  of  the  same  character  as  themselves.  Let  him 
tlien  listen  candidly  to  a  system  which  points  out  how  the 
rest  of  the  book  is  of  the  same  character  as  these  specimens  ; 
which  evinces,  tliat  there  is  a  spiritual  sense  contained 
throughout  the  whole,  which  shines  plainly  through  the 
very  letter  in  such  passages  as  we  have  just  quoted,  but 
which  equally  exists  every  where  else,  though  veiled  from 
immediate  view  by  a  clothing  of  images  taken  from  natu- 
ral objects.  In  short,  every  one  who  is  not  rendered  inimi- 
cal to  the  Word  of  God  by  passion,  prejudice,  or  pride, 
may  find  abundant  reason  to  conclude  in  its  favour  upon  a 
candid  examination  of  the  general  scope  of  its  letter  :  he 
may  there  find,  for  himself,  plain  indications  that  it  is  in- 
wardly replenished  with  real  divine  wisdom  :  and  when 
he  sees  this  proved  by  tlie  views  of  its  nature  which  have 
now  been  developed,  he  surely  will  take  it  to  his  bosom, 
and  thank  its  Author  for  the  invaluable  boon. 

I  conclude  with  expressing  a  devout  hope,  that  the  Au- 
tlior  of  the  Word  of  God  will  accompany  this  attempt  at 
its  vindication  with  his  blessing.  May  the  number  of  the 
sincere  and  devotional  lovers  of  Truth,  of  all  classes  and 
of  ail  parties,  be  rapidly  increased  !  May  they  learn  to 
venerate  the  Word  of  God  as  the  Word  of  God,  and  draw 
from  its  exhaustless  bosom  the  streams  of  genuine  truth  ! 
Believing,  also,  the  view  of  the  nature  of  the  Scriptures  of 
w!)icli  a  faint  sketch  has  now  been  given,  to  be  the  truth  ; 
and  feeling  the    powerful,    the   unalterable   conviction    of 


THE    SCRIPTURES    ASSERTED,    &C.  459 

their  divinity  which  the  reception  of  it  imparts  ;  I  add, 
May  mankind  in  general  be  speedily  brought  to  do  justice 
to  a  system,  Avhich  sets  the  feet  of  the  disciple  of  Revela- 
tion on  a  rock  of  adamant,  and  invests  him  with  a  panoply 
of  strength,  aimed  against  which,  the  keenest  shafts  of 
Infidelity  will  ever  fall  blunted  and  harmless  ! 


END  OF  THE  LECTURES. 


APPEJVDIX. 


No.  I.  (Page  6:2.) 


Proofs  of  the  Svmbolic  Character    of    the    Writings    of    the    Old 
Testament,  akforued  by  the  Revelation  of  John. 

This  book  of  the  Apocalypse,  though  itself  one  of  the  most  mysterioug  of  the 
hooks  of  Scripture,  yet  affords  a  key  to  the  interpretation  of  all  the  rest ; — at 
least  of  all  those  of  the  Old  Testament :  for  it  is  impossible  to  read  this  book 
with  any  attention,  without  discovering,  that  it  is  written  throughout  upon  the 
supposition,  that  every  thing  related  in  Scripture  respecting  the  Jewish  church 
and  people,  has  a  symbolic  meaning,  and  is  not  merely  a  record  of  compara- 
tively unimportant  matters  of  fact.  If  then  this  book  is  written  by  divine 
inspiration,  (and,  notwithstanding  the  objections  which  some,  judging  by  to- 
tally erroneous  criteria,  have  raised  against  it,  there  is  no  book  of  Scripture  in 
^vhich  the  Spirit  of  inspiration  discovers  itself  by  more  infallible  marks.)  we 
have  here  the  most  explicit  testimony  of  that  Spirit  itself  to  the  spiritual  nature 
of  the  more  ancient  Scriptures.  We  will  notice  a  little  more  particularly  than 
in  the  text  above,  some  statements  which  prove  these  three  points ;  the  typical 
character  of  the  persons  mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament ; — of  the  rituals  of 
the  IMosaic  law  ; — of  the  places  menlioned  in  the  Old  Testament. 

I  We  need  go  no  fartlier  than  the  second  chapter  of  this  extraordinary 
book,  to  find  proof  that  the  events  related  in  the  historical  part  of  the  Old 
Testament,  contain  an  ulterior  reference  to  subjects  of  a  spiritual  nature,  im- 
portant to  the  Church  and  her  members  in  every  age  ;  and  that  the  persons 
whose  actions  are  recorded  in  the  Holy  Word,  are  all  typical  characters.  For 
in  the  divine  addre.ss  to  the  Church  of  Pergamns,  we  have  these  words  :  "  But 
I  have  a  few  tliincs  against  thee,  because  thou  hast  there  them  that  hold  the 
doctrine  of  Balaam,  who  taught  Balak  to  cast  a  stumbling  block  before  the 
children  of  Israel,  to  eat  things  sacriticed  unio  idol:,,  and  lo  cummil    foriiica- 


U  APPENDIX.  NO.   I. 

tion."*  A  little  further,  we  find  Jesus  Christ  saying  to  the  church  of  Thyatira, 
"Notwithstanding,  L  have  a  few  things  against  thee,  because  thou  sufierest 
that  woman  Jezebel,  which  calleth  herself  a  prophetess,  to  teach,  and  to  seduce 
niy  servants  to  commit  fornication,  and  to  eat  things  sacrificed  unto  idols.  And 
I  gave  her  space  to  repent  of  her  fornication  ;  and  she  repented  not.  Behold, 
I  cast  her  into  a  bed,  and  them  that  commit  adultery  with  her  into  great  tribu- 
lation, except  tiiey  repent  of  their  deeds  :  and  I  will  kill  her  children  with 
death  :  And  all  the  churches  shall  know,  that  I  am  he  which  searcheth  the 
reins  and  hearts."!  In  these  passages  we  have  two  of  the  characters  of  the 
Old  Testament  brought  forward,  and  described  as  still  occupied  in  their  old 
work  of  perverting  the  church. 

The  book  of  Numbers^  relates  the  history  of  the  prophet  Balaam,  who  was 
employed  by  Balak  king  of  Moab,  to  obstruct  the  marcli  of  the  Israelites  by 
his  incantations  :  and  who  actually  did  prepare  a  snare  §  into  which  they  fell, 
and  were  visited  in  consequence  by  a  destroying  plague.  The  narrative  after- 
wards mentions  his  death  by  the  sword  of  the  Israelites  :||  and  there,  if  no- 
thing but  a  record  of  natural  events  were  intended,  we  should  expect  the 
history  of  Balaam  and  his  arts  to  end.  No  mention  is  made  of  any  "  doctrine'' 
taught  by  him  ;  much  less  of  any  sect  of  followers  attached  to  such  doctrine. 
But  in  the  passage  just  quoted  we  find  mention  occur,  not  indeed  of  Balaam 
himself,  as  being  still  alive,  but  of  a  body  of  his  disciples,  existing  fifteen 
hundred  years  after  his  death,  during  the  whole  of  which  interval  he  does  not 
appear  to  have  had  any  disciples  at  all ! 

But  the  other  instance  we  have  cited  is  more  remarkable  still.  Jezebel  was 
the  wife  of  Ahab,  one  of  the  most  wicked  kings  that  ever  reigned  in  Israel ; 
but  who,  wicked  as  he  was,  was  not  so  abandoned  as  his  wife  :  for  the  sacred 
Record  says,  "  There  was  none  like  unto  Ahab,  which  did  sell  himself  to  work 
wickedness  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  whom  Jezebel  his  wife  stirred  up."1I  This 
wicked  queen  perished  miserably**  about  2600  years  ago,  and  above  eight 
hundred  years  before  the  book  of  the  Revelation  of  John  was  written  :  yet 
she  is  here  spoken  of  as  being  still  living, — still  practising  what  she  delighted 
in  when  alive,  which  was,  to  pervert  the  church,  and  to  seduce  or  destroy  the 
Lord's  faithful  servants; — and  she  is  represented  as  being  still  to  undergo  the 
punishment  due  to  her  crimes,  though  that  had  been  so  dreadfully  inflicted 
upon  her,  personally,  by  the  instrumentality  of  Jehu.  Can  any  thing  then  be 
more  plain,  than  that  this  mention  of  Balaam  and  of  Jezebel  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse, is  designed  to  instruct  us,  that  they  were  both  representative  characters, 
and  thus  that  the  narratives  which  record  their  actions  are  replete  with  a  hid- 
den meaning,  beyond  that  which  appears  on  the  surface  .•"  To  admit,  as  all 
must  admit,  that  they  were  used  as  types  by  John,  but  to  deny  that  they  have 
a  typical  signification  in  the  Old  Testament,  is  to  maintain  a  gross  inconsistcn- 

*  Rev,  ii.  14.  t  Ver.  20  to  23.  If.  Chs.  xxli.  to  xxv.  §  Ch.  xxxi,  16.  ||  Ch. 
xxxi.  S.     IT  1  Kings  xxi.  25.     **  2  Kings  ix.  30  to  end. 


NO.   I.  APPENDIX.  Hi 

cy.  Jolin  gives  no  sort  of  intimation  that  he  is  assigning  tlinni  a  new  rola- 
tion,  but  evidently  considers  tlxsir  tyj)ieal  (character  as  a  thing  fully  established, 
and  not  to  be  questioned. 

We  will  give  two  other  examples.  The  Laml)  that  was  seen  in  the  midst 
of  the  throne  in  heaven,*  is  eallcd  "  the  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Ju(la."\  This  is 
an  allusion  to  the  prophetic  benediction  of  his  sons  by  Jacob  ;  in  which  we 
read,  "  Jiidali  is  a  lion's  whelp  :  from  the  prcjy,  my  son,  art  thou  gone  up  ; 
he  stooped  down,  he  couched  as  a  lion,  and  as  an  old  lion  ;  who  shall  rouse 
him  up  :"t  and  thus  we  are  taught,  that  the  ultimate  reference  of  this  enigma- 
tical saying  is  not  to  Jndafi,  or  to  his  tribe,  but  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

In  the  seventh  chapter,  when  four  angels  were  seen' holding  the  four  winds, 
and  another  angel  cried  to  them,  saying,  "  Hurt  not  the  earth,  neither  the  sea, 
nor  the  trees,  till  we  have  sealed  the  servants  of  our  God  in  their  foreheads ;" 
and  when,  in  consequence,  exactly  twelve  thousand  were  sealed  of  each  of 
the  tioelve  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel  : — every  one  sees  that  the  children 
of  Israel  and  their  tribes  cannot  be  personally  meant :  and  if  they  have  a  sym- 
bolic meaning  here,  they  must  have  a  symbolic  meaning  elsewhere;  which  is 
thus  clearly  taught. 

II.  In  regard  to  the  notices  of  the  Mosaic  rituals.  In  the  eighth  chapter 
we  read  of  "  the  golden  altar  which  was  before  the  throne,"  and  of  an  angel 
having  "  a  golden  censer,"  and  to  whom  was  given  "  much  incense,  thiit  he 
should  ofiipr  it  with  the  prayers  of  all  sajnts  upon  tlie  golden  altar." ^  This 
is  an  allusion  to  tlie  golden  altar  which  stood  before  the  veil  in  the  tabernacle 
and  temple,  and  upon  which  the  incense  was  offered. ||  In  the  eleventh  chap- 
ter an  angel  said  to  John,  "  Rise,  and  measure  the  temple  of  God,  and  the 
altar,  and  them  that  worship  therein  :  but  the  court,  which  is  without  the 
temple,  leave  out,  and  measure  it  not,"!!  &c.  This  alludes  to  the  temple,  its 
altar  and  courts,  as  they  existed  under  the  Jewish  economy.  So,  also,  when 
the  Revelator  says,  "  I  looked,  and  beliold,  the  temple  of  the  tabernacle  of  the 
testimony  in  heaven  was  opened  ;"** — "  and  the  temple  was  filled  with  smoke 
from  the  glory  of  God  ;"tt — "  and  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  the  temple, 
saying  to  the  seven  angels  ;"tt — "  and  there  came  a  great  voice  out  of  the 
temple  of  heaven,  from  the  throne,  saying,  It  is  done  ;"§  § — "  And  the  temple 
of  God  was  opened  in  heaven,  and  there  was  seen  in  his  teijiple  the  ark  of  his 
tc.1t amen f. "WW  It  is  plain  that  these  things  arc  all  here  mentioned  as  symbols 
of  spiritual  things  ;  and  what  they  denote  is  also  in  some  measure  hinted  ;  and 
thus  we  are  taught  tiiat  they  have  a  symbolic  meaning  when  mentioned  in  the 
Old  Testament. 

Beside  tliose  which  are  properly  rituals,  many  of  the  other  representatives 
of  the  Old  Testament  arc  also  alluded  to,  and  their  representative  character 


*  Ch.  V.  6.         t  Ver.  5.         %  Gen.  xlix.  9.         §  Ver.  3.         1|  Exod.  xl.  26,  27. 
IT  Ver.  1,  2.  **  Ch.  .xv.  5.  ft  Ver.  8  :    See  also  Ex.  xl.  34,  and  1  Kings 

viii.  10.         tl  R»v.  xvi.  1.         §§  Ver.  17.         ||||  Ver.  19. 


iv  APPENDIX,  NO.   I. 

thus  clearly  established ;   as  the  tree  of  life  ;*    the  manna  ;\    the   key  of 
David  ;X  and  the  plagues  of  Egypt.\ 

III.  Respecting  the  places  mentioned  in  the  Israeiitish  history,  there  are 
several  allusions.  The  river  Euphrates  is  mentioned  tiuis  :  John  "  heard  a 
voice  from  the  four  horns  of  the  golden  altar,  which  is  before  God,  saying  to 
the  sixth  angel  which  had  the  trumpet,  Loose  the  four  angels  which  are  bound 
in  the  great  river  Euphrates  ;"||  "  The  sixth  angel  poured  out  his  vial  upon 
the  great  river  Euphrates,  and  the  water  thereof  was  dried  up,  that  the  way  of 
the  kings  of  the  east  might  be  prepared. "11  As  Commentators  are  disposed, 
though  with  very  questionable  success,  to  interpret  these  passages  literally,  we 
will  not  build  any  thing  upon  them,  but  leave  them  to  the  consideration  of  the 
intelligent,  while  we  mention  other  passages  for  which  none  can  claim  a 
literal  interpretation. 

Of  the  two  witnesses  it  is  said,  after  tliey  are  killed  by  tlie  beast  that  ascend- 
eth  out  of  the  bottomless  pit,  that  "  their  dead  bodies  shall  lie  in  the  street  of 
the  great  city,  wliich  spiritually  is  called  Sodom  and  Egypt  ;  where  also  our 
Lord  was  crucified. "^'^  Here  it  is  difficult  to  suppose  that  these  figurative 
witnesses,  when  slain  by  a  figurative  beast,  can  lie  in  any  other  than  a  figura- 
tive city  :  and  what  can  that  be,  but  some  state  of  opposition  to,  or  of  the  per- 
version of,  divine  things  ?  The  nature  of  this  state  tlien  must  be  denoted  by 
the  names  which  are  applied  to  it ;  and  of  course  Sodom  and  Egypt  must 
have  a  similar  meaning  when  mentioned  elsewhere  in  the  Holy  Word  ;  other- 
wise it  would  be  quite  unmeaning  to  call  such  a  state  by  those  names  here. 

Of  Mount  Sion,  we  have  this  remarkable  notice  :  "  I  looked,  and  lo,  a 
Lamb  stood  on  the  Mount  Sion,  and  with  him  a  hundred  and  forty-four  thou- 
sand, having  his  Father's  name  written  in  their  foreheads. "tt  Mount  Sion, 
or  Zion,  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  is  generally  allow- 
ed to  have  a  spiritual  signification  ;  which  this  passage  demonstrates  ;  and 
also  shew? that  its  spiritual  reference  must  be  to  something  of  the  most  holy 
and  exalted  nature.  The  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand  here  again  men- 
tioned, are,  no  doubt,  the  same  as  were  before  said  to  have  been  sealed  out  of 
ail  the  tribes  of  Israel :  and  what  is  here  said  of  them  furtlisr  evinces,  that  we 
are  not  to  understand  by  them  Israelites  according  to  the  flesh,  but  "  Israel- 
ites indeed,  in  whom  is  no  guile  ;":|:|  or  them  who  receive  in  the  most  ample 
manner  the  graces  of  salvation,  and  yield  the  most  tuihesitating  obedience  to 
all  the  divine  will :  for  it  is  presently  added,  '•  These  are  they  which  were  not 
defiled  with  women,  for  they  are  virgins"  [but  not  necessarily  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  sense  :]  "  these  are  they  which  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  he 
goeth :  these  were  redeemed  from  among  men,  being  the   first  fruits  to  God 

♦  Ch.  iii.  7.  ;  x.xii.  2,  14.       f  Ch.  ii.  17.       t  Ch.  iii.  7  :  (compare  Isa.  xxii.  22.) 
§  The  turning  of  the  waters  into  blood,  cli.  xvi.  3,  4  :    The  plague  of  frogs  (allu- 
sion to,)  ver.  13  :    The   plague  of  boils,  ver.  2  :    The  plague  of  hail  mingled  with 
fire,  ch.  viii.  7  :    The  plague  of  locusts,  ch.  ix.  3  :    The   plague    of  darkness,    ch. 
viji.  12.  II  Ch.  ix.  13,  14.  IT  Ch.  xvi.  12.  **  Ch.  xi.  S. 

tt  Ch.  xiv.  1.  tj;.  John  i,  47. 


NO.  I.  Arri:M)i\'.  v 

niid  to  tlic  ],anil) ;  and  in  llieir  tmnitli  was  fouinl  no  guile  ;   liir  tlifV  arc   witli- 
out  fault  before  the  throne  of  God.  "* 

The  Jews  were  carried  eaptivt!  to  Babylon  ;  and  the  jnJi^inint.s  wliicji  ailcr- 
\vard.s  befel  that  proud  city,  arc  repeatedly  foretold  in  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah, 
whose  predictions  are  considered  to  have  received  a  coinjjletc  fulfihneiit  in  the 
total  di'solation  which  that  metropolis  has  experienced.  But  two  whole  chap- 
ters of  the  Revelation,  and  parts  of  three  otiiers,  are  occupied  with  ai-counts 
of  Biihijlon  and  her  fall,  as  if  she  were  still  standin:r,  and  her  tall  still  to  come, 
at  the  late  period  to  which  those  parts  of  the  book  evidently  refer  :  and  vviiat 
is  equally  remarkable,  much  of  the  language  used  on  the  occasion  by  John, 
is  the  same,  or  nearly  so,  as  was  before  used,  in  retbrtjnce  to  Babylon,  by  Isaiah 
and  Jeremiah.  An  angel  says  in  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  the  Revelation, 
"  Babylon  is  fallen,  is  fallen  ;"\  iu  the  eighteenth  chapter,  another  angel  cries 
mightily,  saying,  "-Babylon  the  great  is  fallen,  is  fallen  :"t.  in  the  twenty-first 
of  Isaiah  a  watchman  says,  "Babylon  is  fallen,  is  fallen  :''^  and  Jeremiah 
says,  "  Babylon  is  suddenly /«^?cra,  and  destroyed. "||  The  angel  in  the  Reve- 
lation adds, — ■•  and  is  become  the  habitation  of  demons,  and  the  hold  of  every 
foul  spirit,  and  the  cage  of  ever)'  unclean  and  hateful  bird  :''1I  Isaiah  sa}s, 
'•  Wild  beasts  of  the  desert  shall  lie  there,  and  their  hi>uses  shall  be  full  of 
doleful  creatures  ;  and  owls  shall  dwell  there,  and  satyrs  shall  dance  there:"-* 
So  it  is  said  in  Jeremiah,  "  The  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  with  the  wild  beasts 
of  the  islands  shall  dwell  there,  and  the  owls  shall  dwell  therein. "It  The 
Apocalyptic  angel  proceeds  to  say,  "  For  all  nations  Iiave  drunk  of  the  wine  of 
the  wrath  of  her  fornication  ;||  and  when  Babylon  was  seen  under  the  figure 
of  a  woman,  she  had  "  a  golden  cup  in  her  hand,  full  of  abominations  and 
filthiness  of  her  fornication  :"§  §  Jeremiah  says,  "  Babyhm  has  been  a  golden 
cup  in  the  Lord's  hand,  that  hath  made  all  the  earth  drunken  ;  the  nations 
have  drunken  of  her  wine  ;  therefore  the  nations  are  uiad."|J||  Another  voice 
was  heard  by  John,  saying,  "  Come  out  of  her,  my  people,  that  ye  be  not  par- 
takers of  her  sins,  and  that  ye  receive  not  of  her  plagues  :  for  her  sins  hrn  e 
reached  unto  heaven,  and  God  hath  remembered  her  iniquities  :"inr  Jeremiah 
says,  "  Flee  out  of  the  midst  of  Babylon,  and  deliver  every  man  his  soul  :  be 
not  cut  off  in  her  iniquity  ;  for  this  is  the  time  of  the  Lord's  vengeance  ;  he 
will  render  her  a  recompense  :"***  and  again,  "  Forsake  her,  and  let  us  go 
every  one  into  his  own  country  :  for  her  judgment  reacheth  unto  heaven,  and 
is  lifted  up  even  to  the  skies  :"ttt  and  again  :  "  My  people,  go  ye  out  of  the 
midst  of  her,  and  deliver  ye  every  man  his  soul  from  the  fierce  anger  of  tJie 
Lord. "ill  The  voice  heard  by  John  proceeds  to  say,  "  Reward  her,  even  as 
she  hath  rewarded  you,  and  double  unto  her  double  according  to  her  works  :§  §  § 
Jeremiah  says,  ••  Recompense  her  according  to  her  works  ;  according  to  all 
that  she  hath  done,  do  unto  her."|l nil     The    voice  in  the  Revelation  describes 


*  Rev.  xiv.  -4,  .5.  f  Ver.  8.  J:  Ver.  2.  §  Ver.  9.  ||  Ch.  U,  8. 

ft   •  IT  Ch.  xviii.  2.  **  Ch.  xiii,  21.  ft  Ch.  1.  39.  tt  Rev.  xviii.  3. 

§§  Ch.  xvii.  4.  nil  Ch.  11.  7.  Ifir  Rev^xviii.  4,  5.  ***  Ch.  U.  6, 

ttt  Ver.  9.  \U  Ver.  45.  §§§  Rev.  xvjii.  6.  ||||1|  Ch.  I.  29. 


VI  APPENDIX.  NO  I. 

lipi-  prklc  ;incl  its  consequences  thus  :  "  She  saitli  in  her  heart,  1  sit  a  queen, 
and  am  no  widow,  and  shall  see  no  sorrow  ;  therefore  shall  her  plagues  come 
in  one  day,  death,  and  mourning,  and  famine  :'"*  which  is  thus  paralleled  in 
Isaiah  :  "  Thou  saidst,  I  shall  he  a  lady  for  ever; — I  shall  not  sit  as  a  widow, 
iicitlier  shall  I  know  the  loss  of  children  :  but  these  two  things  shall  come 
unto  thee  in  a  mom(!nt,  in  one  day  ;  the  loss  of  children  and  widowhood."t 
Much  then  follows  in  the  Revelation  which  closely  resembles  what  is  said  of 
the  destruction  of  Tyre  in  the  twenty-sixth  and  twenty-seventh  chapters  of 
Ezekiel  ;  afler  which  it  is  written,  "  And  a  mighty  angel  took  up  a  stone  like 
a  great  mill-stone,  and  cas?t  it  into  the  sea,  saying.  Thus  with  violence  shall 
that  great  city  Babylon  be  throv/n  down,  and  shall  be  found  no  more  at  all  -."t 
What  was  thus  done  by  an  angel  in  the  sight  of  John,  resembles  what  was 
done  by  a  messenger  sent  by  Jeremiah  to  ancient  Babylon  :  he  directed  him, 
when  he  arrived  there,  to  read  the  prophecy  against  it  ;  aitd  he  concludes  his 
injunctions  in  these  words  :  "  And  it  shall  be,  when  thou, hast  made  aa>  end' 
of  reading  this  book,  that  thou  shalt  bind  a  stone  to  it,  and  cast  it  into  the 
midst  of  Euphrates  :  and  thou  shalt  say,  Thus  shall  Buhyion  sink,  and  shall 
not  rise  from  the  evil  that  I  will  bring  upon  her."'§ 

Now  it  is  evident  that  the  Babylon  of  the  Apocalvpso  is  altogether  a  spirit- 
ual Babylon  ;  as  also,  that  the  sublime  images  bv  which  her  judgment  is  de- 
scribed are  all  a  series  of  pure  sj'mbols.  having  none  but  a  spiritual  significa- 
tion. But  the  very  same  tilings  are  said  respecting  the  judgment  on  Babylon 
pronounced  by  the  old  prophets:  is  it  not  then  evident,  that  the  Babylon  of 
the  Old  Testament,  though  a  real  city,  was  nevertheless  a  typical  one  .''  as 
likewise,  that  the  language  in  which  the  old  prophets  announced  its  destruc- 
tion, was  equally  sj'mbolic  with  the  same  language  when  used  by  the  Apoca- 
lyptic divine,  and  that  although,  with  them,  it  had  a  literal  sense,  it  had  a 
spiritual  sense  also  .''  Are  we  not  thus  plainh^  taught  by  the  Kevelator,  what  is 
the  nature  of  the  prophetic  style  of  the  Old  Testament  .'  When  he  uses  the 
same  language,  and  treats  of  the  same  places,  as  they  do  ;  and  this  long  after 
the  places  had  ceased  to  exist  ;  does  he  not  clearly  inform  tif,  that  the  places 
treated  of  by  them  had  a  typical  character,  and  that  the  language  in  which 
they  spoke  of  them  had  a  meaning  beyond  that  which  appears  on  the  surface  ? 

There  rernivins  but  one  other  place  to  notice,  which  is  Jerusalem.  It  is 
allowed  by  commentators  in  general,  that  Jerusalem  is  a  type  of  the  church  ; 
which  principle  is  frequently  recognised  by  the  translators  of  the  English 
Bible,  in  the  summaries  of  the  contents  prefixed  to  the  chapters.  There  are, 
however,  various  passages  in  the  Old  Testament,  in  which,  under  the  name  of 
Jerusalem,  the  church  is  treated  of  as  being  in  a  state  of  desolation  or  corrup- 
tion :  and  many  in  which,  on  account  of  their  plain  applicability  to  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  actual  or  carnal  Jerusalem,  there  might  be  room  to  doubt 
\\  iicllier  any  thing  further  is  intended,  were  it  not  tiir  other  passages  \\  liicli  do 
not  a<lmit  of  suth  limitation.     But    in    the   Apocalypse.   Jerusalem    is    ne\t'r 

*  Ch.  .wiii.  7,  S.       t  Cli.  xlvii.  7,  S,  9.       X  Ch.  xviii.  21.       §  Jer.  li.  63,  64. 


NO.   I.  APPENDIX.  Vll 

menfioried  in  a  way  tliut  will  iitliiiit  of  :in  application  to  tlie  carnal  Jerusalem 
at  all.  In  the  only  passacc  whcro  an  allusion  is  made  to  tlic  carnal  Jorusaloni, 
as  the  place  "  where  our  Lord  was  crucified,"*  it  is  called,  not  Jernsalcni,  but 
"  Sodom  and  Effijpt."  Whenever  "  Jeruaalcm"  is  nientioncd,  it  is  always  in 
a  ninnncr  tiiat  fully  establishes  its  meaning  to  be,  the  true  rhiu'ch  of  the  Lord  ; 
thus  completely  establisliiug.  at  the  same  time,  the  symbolic  or  typical  cluiruc- 
ter  of  the  city  Jerusalem  under  the  Jewish  dispensation.  To  guard  against  it.-* 
being  referred  to  the  mere  city  Jerusalem,  it  likewise  is  always  called  eillicr 
the  "  new  Jerusalem"^  or  the  "  holy  Jerusalem  ;"t  and  it  is  spoken  of  as 
"  coming  down  from  God  out  of  heaven  :'"§  just  as  Paul,  to  preserve  the  same 
distinction,  calls  the  carnal  Jerusalem,  or  Jerusalem  taken  as  a  type  of  the 
Jewish  church,  the  "  Jerusalem  which  noio  is,  and  is  in  bondage  with  lier 
children  ;"||  and  he  terms  the  true  church  "  the  Jerusalem  above,"  or  the 
heavcidy  Jerusalem  :  thus  he  says,  continuing  the  sentence  of  which  a  part  is 
just  quoted,  "  But  Jerusalem  which  is  above  is  free,  which  is  the  mother  of  us 
all  :"^  and  again,  "  Ye  are  come  unto  Mount  57o/i,and  to  the  city  of  the  living 
God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem."**  So  when  the  Revelator  speaks  of  a  new 
Jerusalem,  such  a  one  as  cometh  down  from  God  out  of  heaven, — while  he 
clearly  predicts  by  the  sublime  symbol  a  future  glorious  state  of  the  church 
among  men,  ("  Behold,  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  icith  men  ;"tt)  he  distinctly 
points  to  the  typical  character  of  the  ancient  Jerusalem,  as  designating  the 
church  in  general  :  and,  to  reverse  the  proposition,  the  acknowledged  typical 
character  of  the  ancient  Jerusalem,  points  out  what  is  meant  by  the  new 
Jerusalem  here.  To  adopt  the  words  of  one  of  the  most  learned  and  esteem- 
ed commentators,  Dr.  Hammond  :  "  The  true  meaning  of  the  A''cw  Jerusa- 
lem mentioned  here  (ch.  s;xi.  ver.  2,)  and  again  with  the  addition  of  holy,  and 
the  glory  of  God  upon  it,  (ver.  11.)  will  be  a  key  to  the  interpreting  of  this 
chapter."  [He  might  have  added,  and  of  all  the  passages  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment where  Jerusalem  is  mentioned.  He  proceeds  to  say]  "  That  it  signifies* 
not  the  state  of  glorified  saints  in  heaven,  appears  by  its  dcscendinsr  from 
heaven  in  both  places,  (and  that,  according  to  the  use  of  the  phrase,  ch.  x.  1, 
and  xviii.  1,  as  an  expression  of  some  eminent  benefit  and  blessing  in  the 
church  ;)  and  so  it  must  needs  be  here  on  eartli  :  and  being  here  set  down, 
w  ith  the  glory  of  God  upon  it,  it  will  signify  the  pure  Christian  church,  join- 
ing Christian  practice  with  the  profession  thereof ;  and  that  in  a  flourishing 
condition,  expressed  by  the  new  heaven  and  neio  earth. .  In  this  sense  we  have 
the  superrud  Jerusalem,  (Gal.  iv.  26.)  the  JVcio  Jerusalem,  (Rev.  iii.  12,) 
where,  to  the  constant  professor  is  promised,  that  God  will  write  upon  him  the 
name  of  God,  and  the  name  of  the  city  of  God,  the  JVcw  Jerusalem.,  which 
tliere  signifies  the  pure,  catholic,  Christian  Church."  Filled  with  this  view  of 
the  subject,  which  is  so  evidently  the  true  one,  the  pious   Watts,   in  a  hymn 


*  Ch.  xi.  8.  t  Ch.  iii.  12,  x.\i.  2.  t  Ver.  10.  §  Ch.  iii.  12,  xxi.  2. 

11  Gal.  iv.  25.  IT  Ver.  26.  **  Hcb.  xii.  22.  ft  Rev.  xxi.  3. 


Vill  APPr.NDlX*.  NO.   II. 

«>ntitled  "  A  Vision  of  tiie  Kingdom  of  Cliiist  among  men,"*  has  these  raptur- 
ous stan/as  : 

"  From  the  third  heaven,  where  God  resides. 
That  holy,  happy  place. 
The  New  Jerusalem  comes  down, 
Adorned  with  shining  grace. — 

How  long,  dear  Saviour,  O  how  long 

Shall  this  bright  hour  delay  1 
Fly  swifter  round,  ye  wheels  of  time. 

And  bring  the  welcome  day." 

Ahogetiier,  then,  I  trust,  it  is  perfectly  evident,  that  had  the  Revelation  of 
Joiui  been  written  by  that  Apostle  as  an  express  commentary  upon  the  Old 
Testament,  it  could  not  have  taught  us  more  clearly  than  it  does,  that  every 
thing  relating  to  the  history  of  the  Jews,  to  their  worship,  and  to  the  coun- 
tries and  cities  inhabited  by  them  and  by  the  nations  with  whom  they  had 
intercourse,  as  recorded  by  the  pen  of  inspiration,  had  a  symbolic  and  spiritual 
meaning.  Had  the  Revelation  been  an  express  commentary,  we  might  in- 
deed have  been  informed  more  explicitly  what  tlmt  meaning  is :  but  the  gene- 
ral principle,  that  there  is  such  a  meaning, — that  all  the  inspired  writings  do 
positively  contain  a  sense  beyond  that  which  is  extant  on  the  surface, — could 
not  have  been  more  decisively  established.  If  we  deny  this  principle,  we 
deny  to  the  whole  of  the  Revelation  of  John  any  meaning  at  all :  we  convert 
his  sublime  symbols  into  a  senseless  jargon  :  and,  if  we  still  admit  his  book  to 
have  been  written  by  inspiration,  we  charge  with  egregious  trifling  the  unerr- 
ing Spirit  of  God. 


No.  II.  (Page  166.) 


An  Attempt  to  discriminate  between  the  Books  of  Plenary  Inspira- 
tion, CONTAINED  IN  THE  BiBLE,  AND  THOSE  WRITTEN  BV  THE  INSPIRATION 
GENERALLY  ASSIGNED  TO  THE  WHOLE. 

We  are  advocating  in  this  work  "  the  Plenary  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures ;" 
and  we  are  endeavouring  to  shew,  that  no  writing  can  be  produced  by  Plenary 
Inspiration  without  including  stores  of  spiritual  and  divine  wisdom  within  the 
outward  covering  of  the  literal  expression.  It  must  however  be  admitted,  that 
there  are  some  books  contained  in  the  collection  called  the  Bible,  which,  though 
they  are  to  be  received  as  the  productions  of  men  endowed  with  an  extraordi- 
nary share  of  divine  illumination,  do  not  contain  the  spiritual  sense  here  claim- 

*  Book  i.  Hymn  21. 


NO.   II.  APPK.N'DIX.  ix 

ed  for  tlie  ;ibsolute  W<inl  of  God,  and  llius  cannot  be  the  results  of  that  iuune- 
diate  uiid  Plenary  Inspiration  whirl)  is  essential  to  such  writings  as  are  the 
Word  of  God  indeed.  The  particular  examination  of  this  subject  could  not 
conveniently  be  introduced  into  the  Lectures  themselves  ;  whei'efore  we  will 
malve  some  remarks  upon  it  here.  It  is  necessary  that  the  distinction  should 
not  be  passed  without  notice  ;  since,  without  a  knowledge  of  its  existence,  they 
who  shotdd  endeavour  to  mterpret  the  Scriptures  by  the  Rule  drawn  from  the 
Analogy  between  natural  things  and  spiritual,  or  to  try  the  validity  of  the  Rule 
itself,  might  be  disappointed  in  the  results,  in  consequence  of  applying  it  to 
those  parts  of  the  Bible  wliich  are  not  composed  according  to  it,  or  are  not 
written  by  the  plenary  and  immediate,  but  by  the  more  lax  and  mediate  spe- 
cies of  inspiration. 

We  have  stated  in  our  early  Lectures  the  sentiments  which  are  now  gene- 
rally held  by  the  learned  on  the  nature  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Word  of  God; 
and  we  objected  to  them  as  not  going  far  enough,  and  as  not  giving  a  proper 
idea  of  compositions  that  are  absolutely  divine.  They  uU  proceed  upon  the 
supposition,  that  inspiration,  be  it  what  it  may,  is  a  personal  and  permanent  gift 
to  the  man  by  wiiom  an  inspired  book  is  written  ;  that  the  writers  of  the  Scrip- 
tures were  divinely  illuminated  men,  who,  with  few  exceptions,  wrote  in  their 
own  words  the  perceptions  of  their  own  minds,  which  were  the  constant  seat^ 
of  the  illumination  of  tlie  Holy  Spirit:  (though  some  will  not  admit  so  mu(;li 
as  this.)  If  this  definition  were  intended  for  a  certain  portion,  only,  of  the 
books  commonly  called  the  Holy  Scriptures,  we  should  be  constrained  to  ad- 
mit it  to  be  correct ;  but  we  deem  it  grossly  defective  when  applied  to  the 
greater  part  of  them.  The  inspiration  by  which  these  were  written,  was,  we 
have  endeavoured  to  shew,  such  as  took  an  entire  possession,  for  the  time,  of 
the  faculties  of  the  writers ;  and  after  they  had  written  what  was  intended,  it 
again  would  leave  them,  and  then  they  would  return  into  their  ordinary  state  ; 
in  which  they  would  not  necessarily  understand  the  meaning  of  the  tilings, 
which,  in  their  state  of  ecstacy,  they  had  spoken  or  written.  The  other  books 
admitted  into  our  Canon  of  Scripture,  appear,  for  the  most  part,  to  have  been 
composed  by  persons,  who  were  endowed  with  such  a  degree  of  illumination, 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  as  to  discern,  in  the  former  class  of  writings,  the  doctrine 
suited  to  the  dispensation  of  Divine  Truth  under  which  they  lived,  and  which 
they  were  raised  up  to  assist  in  establishing, — such  of  tliem  as  lived  under  the 
Jewish  dispensation,  the  doctrine  of  the  Jewisli  church,  and  such  of  them  as 
were  raised  up  to  establish  Christianity,  the  doctrine  of  the  Christian  Church  ; 
and  the  writings  of  the  latter  are  justly  taken,  by  the  Christian  Church,  as  au- 
thoritative declarations  of  her  autlientic  doctrines.  Beside  the  doctrinal  writ- 
ings of  this  class,  there  are  also  some  historical  ones.  All  writings  of  this  class 
are  to  be  interpreted  by  their  literal  sense  alone ;  allowing,  however,  for  their 
occasional  use  of  figurative  expressions,  and  of  words  and  phrases  taken  from 
those  Scriptures  which  have  a  spiritual  sense,  and  which,  of  course,  must  bear 
the  same  meaning  when  excerpted  as  in  their  original  repository.  In  short, 
these  writings  are  to  be  explained  by  the  same  sort  of  criticism  a,s  would  be 
exercised  to  ascertain  the  nieaniiig  of  other  ancient  aufh()r.-j. 
6 


X  APPENDIX.  NO.   II. 

I.  The  assertion,  that  there  are  writings  of  two  so  distinct  classes  contained 
in  the  sacred  collection  called  the  Bible,  may  at  first  appear  arbitrary  and  un- 
supported by  the  reason  of  the  case  :  and  yet  when  it  is  more  attentively  con- 
sidered, I  apprehend  it  will  be  discovered  to  be  founded,  not  merely  in  reason, 
but  in  absolute  necessity ;  for  it  will  appear,  that  the  designs  of  the  Almighty 
Father  in  giving  a  dispensation  of  his  will  to  man,  could  not  otherwise  havo 
been  made  effectual. 

1.  We  have  endeavoured  to  prove,  in  the  third,  and  in  the  preceding  part  of 
this  fourth  Lecture,  that  no  composition  which  is  truly  and  absolutely  the  Word 
of  God,  could  be  produced,  the  literal  sense  of  which  should  not  be  composed 
of  natural  images,  and  of  appearances  of  things  taken  from  the  world  of  na- 
ture :  and  that  such  is  actually  the  case  with  the  books  of  Scripture  which  are 
written  by  the  plenary  inspiration,  is  shewn  in  the  sequel  of  this,  and  in  the 
following  Lecture,  From  this  peculiarity  of  construction,  it  inevitably  follqwa, 
that  the  letter  cannot  every  where  present  such  ideas  openly  to  the  view,  as 
are  proper  to  form  the  doctrine  of  the  church  founded  upon  it : — as  remarked 
in  our  second  Lecture,*  passages  which  even  appear  to  be  in  opposition  to 
each  other  not  unfrequently  occur,  one  of  which  delivers  the  genuine  truth, 
and  the  other  the  truth  covered  with  the  veil  of  a  mere  appearance  taken  from 
human  ideas.  But  the  choice  between  them  is  not  without  its  difficulties.  It 
is  evident,  for  the  construction  of  coherent  doctrine,  that  one  of  these  classes 
of  passages  must  be  so  explained  as  to  be  reconciled  with  the  other:  but  man, 
in  his  untutored,  natural  state,  is  not  qualified  to  decide  with  accuracy  by  which 
he  ought  to  abide  ;  and  when  he  studies  the  Word  under  the  influence  of  an 
unpurified  heart,  he  is  but  too  apt  to  catch  at  the  appearance  to  the  exclusion 
of  the  reality  ;  he  is  ever  disposed  to  kill  the  prophets,  and  to- stone  them  that 
are  sent  unto  him,  and  he  is  never  so  well  pleased  as  when  he  can  destroy, 
spiritually,  the  disciples  of  the  Lord,  or  the  pure  tniths  of  which  the  disciples 
are  the  depositaries,  under  the  persuasion  that  he  is  doing  God  service,  and 
can  allege  as  his  authority  the  letter  of  God's  Word,  of  the  ambiguities  of 
which  he  avails  himself  for  the  purpose. 

That  the  ambiguities  of  the  letter  of  the  Word  are  verj^  numerous, — that  it 
is  a,  sword  which  turns  every  way, — is  a  fact  which  has  become  proverbial. 
Every  sect  turns  it  in  favour  of  its  peculiar  doctrines ;  and  into  what  a  multi- 
plicity of  sects  the  Christian  Church  has  been  divided,  and  what  monstrous 
sentiments  have  by  some  of  them  been  maintained,  are  things  well  known  : 
yet  the  most  extravagant  of  them  all  have  professed  to  found  their  sentiments 
npon  the  Word  of  God,  and  have  produced  passages  from  its  letter  which 
might  be  construed  in  their  favour.  Of  this  fact,  the  writers  of  the  Romish 
Communion  have  not  failed  to  take  advantage  :  the  Word  of  God.  on  account 
of  its  admitting,  as  to  its  letter,  of  such  a  variety  of  interpretations,  has,  by 
them,  been  blasphemously  denominated  Liber  Harcsiarurn  ;  and  they  invite 
their  opponents  to  take  refuge  from  its  uncertainties  in  the  ever-consistent  dc- 

*  P.  81. 


NO.   II.  APPENDIX.  XI 

cisions  of  a  sclf-constitutcd  infallible  church.  If  then  men  have  thus  joarteti 
the  Lord's  garments  among  them,  and  cast  lots  upon  his  vesture,  (which  cir- 
cumstances are  explained  in  our  fifth  Lecture,)  notwithstanding  it  has  been 
provided,  as  will  presently  be  seen,  that  the  books  written  in  the  language  of 
Analogy  should  be  accompanied  with  others  in  which  the  leading  doctrines  of 
the  former  are  explicitly  developed ;  to  what  extremes  of  perversion  would 
they  not  have  gone,  had  they  been  left,  without  such  help,  to  draw  their  doc- 
trines fi-om  the  more  mysterious  books  for  themselves  ! 

It  being  then  a  demonstrable  fact,  that  writings  oomposed  in  the  style  which 
belongs  to  the  absolute  Word  of  God,  cannot  be  understood  by  the  simple  and 
unenlightened,  without  the  help  of  doctrine,  as  a  lamp  to  direct  their  path, 
drawn  thence  by  some  person  or  persons  endowed  with  special  illumination 
for  the  purpose  ;  there  arises  a  necessity,  that,  ever  since  a  written  Revelation 
has  been  the  medium  of  conveying  the  divine  will  to  man,  in  every  church 
possessed  of  such  a  Revelation,  divinely  illuminated  persons  should  be  raised 
up,  qualified  to  deliver,  either  by  oral  instruction  or  by  writing,  such  views  of 
doctrine,  founded  on  that  Revelation,  as  were  adapted  to  the  genius  of  the  peo- 
ple among  whom  they  lived,  and  to  the  character  of  the  dispensation  of  which 
they  were  the  subjects  :  and  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  the  Author 
of  Revelation  would  provide  the  aids  necessary  to  render  it  etfectual  to  its  ob- 
ject. Under  the  Jewish  dispensation,  which,  as  well  as  the  Jews  themselves, 
was  of  a  very  external  character,  and  in  which  very  enlightened  views  of  doc- 
tripe  would  have  surpassed  the  comprehension  of  the  people,  little  was  wanted 
bfcyond  the  literal  enunciation  of  the  Mosaic  law,  all  the  rituals  of  which  were 
by  them  to  be  observed  according  to  the  letter ;  yet  even  then  teachers  arose, 
who  composed  codes  of  morality,  and  delivered  doctrinal  precepts,  adapted  to 
hnpress  upon  the  minds  of  the  Jews  such  of  the  truths  involved  in  their  law  as 
were  more  especially  calculated  for  their  state  and  capacities  :  and,  under  the 
Christian  dispensation,  teacliers,  gifted  with  much  higher  illumination,  were 
raised  up  to  discover  more  of  the  truths  involved  in  the  ancient  Scriptures,  and 
to  declare  that ''  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  Law  for  righteousness  to  every  one 
that  believeth  ;"*  and  that  '■'  he  that  loveth  another  hath  fulfilled  the  law  ;'"t 
because  "the  end  of  the  commandment  is  charity,  out  of  a  pure  heart,  and  of 
a  good  conscience,  and  of  faith  unfeigned. "t  Nor  can  it  be  reasonably 
doubted,  that,  if  any  further  discoveries  of  the  divine  will  should  ever  be  ne- 
cessary, they  would  be  made  in  a  sunilar  manner :  nay,  many  believe  that,  if 
not  further  discoveries,  re-discoveries  of  it  have  thus  been  made  by  Luther  and 
Calvin,  to  whom  some  ascribe  a  spirit  of  understanding  in  the  Scriptures  not 
much  inferior  to  that  enjoyed  by  the  Apostles  :  indeed,  most  sectaries  entertain 
a  similar  opinion  of  the  leaders  whom  they  respectively  follow  ;  and  though 
they  may  be  greatly  mistaken  as  to  the  fact,  their  belief  of  it  affords  a  recogni- 
tion of  the  principle.  So  general,  indeed,  is  the  conviction,  that  without  sound 
doctrine  as  a  guide,  the  Word  cannot  be  understood,  that  many  have  viewed 
the  labours  of  that  first  of  modern  Institutions, — the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 

*  Roni.  X.  4.  t  Ch.  xin.  S.  t  I  Tim.  i.  5. 


Xll  APPENDIX.  NO.   II. 

Society, — in  circulating  the  Scriptures  without  note  or  comment,  as  pregnant 
with  mischief,  and,  tacitly  adopting  the  Roman  Catholic  principle,  have  ima- 
gined, that  thus  to  communicate  the  Word  of  God,  is  in  elfect  to  sow  the  seeds 
of  heresy.  There  would  have  been  less  room  for  this  apprehension,  had  the 
fact  not  been  overlooked,  that  in  the  Bible,  together  with  the  books  which  are 
eminently  the  Scriptures,  are  included  writings  which  deliver  the  leading 
doctrines  of  the  former  without  any  recondite  meaning.  Divine  Wisdom  knew 
that  books  composed  in  the  purely  divine  style  were  liable  to  be  misunder- 
stood by  the  simple  and  unintelligent ;  wherefore  it  has  provided  that  they 
should  be  accompanied  with  writings  intended  to  fix  their  general  import,  and 
to  afford  a  clew  to  their  safe  and  profitable  interpretation.* 

2.  It  may  now,  we  would  hope,  in  some  measure  appear,  that  there  was 
reason  grounded  in  absolute  necessity  for  the  production  of  writings  of  this 
second  class  to  accompany  those  of  the  first :  but  perhaps  it  may  not  imme- 
diately be  seen  that  there  was  any  necessity  for  the  production  of  writings  of 
any  other  kind  than  these.  The  doctrinal  purport  of  these  being  more  easily 
intelligible,  they  seem  to  have  acquired,  by  degrees,  a  superior  degree  of  esti- 
mation :  at  least  it  is  certain,  that  it  is  from  these  that  ministers  most  frequent- 
ly take  the  subject  of  their  discourses  in  the  pulpit ;  and  probably  many  would 
wish  that  the  whole  Bible  consisted  of  such  compositions,  and  are  somewhat 
scandalized  that  it  does  not.  But  to  this  it  may  be  sufficient  to  answer,  that 
had  not  the  Scriptures  of  plenary  inspiration  first  been  given,  the  others  would 
never  have  been  composed.  They  were  all  written  by  men  to  whom  the  com- 
positions which  are  the  Word  of  God,  absolutely,  were  previously  familial ; 
and  the  kind  of  inspiration  by  which  they  were  produced,  consisted  in  endow- 
ing the  writers  with  the  faculty  of  discerning  the  doctrines  contained 
in  that  Word ;  to  which,  therefore,  as  higher  authority,  they  continually  refer. 
Indeed,  it  is  a  fact,  on  which  something  is  said  in  the  fiflh  Lecture,  that  with- 
out the  existence  of  the  Scriptures  of  plenary  inspiration  in  the  world,  no  illu- 
mination in  divine  things  could,  in  the  present  state  of  mankind,  be  afforded. 
Accordingly,  after  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord,  it  is  said  respecting  his  disci- 
ples, "  Then  opened  he  their  understandings  that  they  should  understand  the 
Scriptures  ."t  And  in  giving  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Lord  says, 

*  It  must  however  be  confessed,  that  many  things  in  these  writings  also,  are,  as 
must  unavoidably  be  the  case  in  all  writings  of  great  antiquity,  "  hard  to  be  under- 
stood ;"  they  being  full  of  allusions  to  circumstances  and  opinions  of  which  nothing 
at  all  is  now  known,  except  by  the  learned,  and  but  little  by  them,  and  containing 
many  words  used  in  a  sense  peculiar  to  the  writers  :  hence  it  is  but  too  true,  that 
some  of  the  greatest  theological  errors  have  been  founded  upon  these  very  writings  ; 
as  was  naturally  to  be  expected  when  men  went  to  the  study  of  ancient  writers  with 
minds  pre-occupied  by  modern  idoas. 

t  Luke  xxiv.  45.  It  is  to  be  observed,  that,  in  the  Bible,  no  writings  are  ever 
called,  simply,  "  the  Scriptures,"  but  those  which  are  written  by  the  Plenary  In- 
spiration :  to  them  the  term  is  applied  by  way  of  eminence,  and  as  an  ellipsis  for  the 
divine  or  inspired  JVrititigs.     It   will  hardly  be  maintained,  that  when  Peter,  (2 


NO.   II.  APPENDIX.  Xia 

"  Tlipso  tilings  have  I  spoken  unto  you,  being  yet  prosont  wilh  yon  :  but  tlic 
Comforter,  which  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  the  Father  will' send  in  my  name, 
he  shall  teach  3'ou  ail  things,  and  bring  all  things  to  your  remenibra!ice,  icluit- 
soene.r  I Imve  said  unto  you  ?"*  that  is,  he  should  recall  all  the  Lord's  words, 
and  teach  them  to  understand  them.  One  of  the  chief  efTocts,  then,  of  the 
communication  of  the  Holy  Spi-rit,  vvy,s  to  be,  to  enable  the  disciples  to  under- 
stand the  Lord's  words,  together  with  the  Scriptures,  given  by  plenary  inspira- 
tion, which  are  equally  his  words  though  communicated  in  a  diHerent  manner, 
— not  to  write  new  Scriptures  themselves  :  and  such  of  them  as  did  write  new 
books  of  Scripture,  must  have  done  it  by  a  special  additional  inspiration,  dis- 
tinct from  that  which  was  common  to  them  all,  and  which  constantly  altode 
with  them.  Accordingly,  they  began  their  preaching  with  explaining  the  an- 
cient Scriptures  ;t  and  this  seems  to  have  continued  to  be  their  usual  practice  : 
and  all  their  discourses  and  writings  are  filled  with  the  light  which  this  illumi- 
nation, or  this  mediate  and  personal  inspiration,  brought  to  their  minds.  If  it 
can  be  shewn  that,  in  their  ordinary  discourse  or  writing,  they  ever  spoke  or 
wrote  from  immediate  dictation,  in  those  instances  their  ordinary  and  personal 
was  exalted  into  extraordinary  and  plenary  inspiration,  and  their  language 
flowed  according  to  the  Laws  of  Analogy,  and  contained,  what  was  not  the 
case  at  other  times,  a  spiritual  and  divine  meaning  beyond  the  outward 
expression. 

If  then  there  are,  in  the  collection  called  the  Bible,  writings  or  books  of 
these  two  very  different  classes,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  great  importance  to 
discriminate  between  them.  This,  therefore,  we  will  attempt  ;  first,  in  regard 
to  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament  ;  and  then  of  the  New. 

Ep.  iii,  16,)  in  contradistinction  to  the  writings  of  Paul,  mentions  "  the  other  Scrip- 
tures," (t^c  xciTTAi  yfttp^i),  he  means  to  admit  that  the  Epistles  of  that  Apos- 
tle are  writings  of  the  same  kind.  It  is  to  be  remembered,  that  the  term  "  Scrip- 
tures" simply  means  Writings,  and  that  the  Greek  name  for  them  is  the  common 
name  for  writings  :  when,  therefore,  the  Apostle  Peter,  after  mentioning  the  Epis- 
tles of  Paul,  speaks  of"  the  other  writiiigs,^'  the  fair  inference  is,  that  he  means 
to  advert  to  the  plenarily  inspired  Scriptures  a.s  loritings  of  another  hind, — of  that 
kind  which  are  usually  called  the  Writings  by  way  of  eminence.  Believing  this 
to  be  the  Apostle's  meaning,  I  do  not  think  the  interpretation  is  to  be  accepted 
which  understands  by  "  the  other  writings,"  the  other  writings  of  Paul,  beside 
those  which  treat  of  the  specific  subject  here  under  discussion  :  though  Schleusner 
seems  to  adopt  this  meaning,  which  he  gives  as  that  "■  plerorumijue  interprctum." 
If  this  is  the  true  meaning,  there  is  not  left  a  shadow  of  pretence  for  the  notion, 
that  Peter  puts  his  brother  Apostle's  writings  on  the  same  footing  with  those  whicli 
are  eminently  the  Scriptures.  Schleusner  also  shews,  that  the  word  here  translat- 
ed "  other,"  is  as  frequently  used  in  the  New  Testament  in  reference  to  other 
things  of  other  kinds  as  to  other  things  of  the  same  kind.  Peter's  accurate  discri- 
mination on  tlie  subject  of  inspiration  is  noticed  below,  p.  xix. 

♦  John  xiv.  25,  26.  t  Acts  ii.  16,  &c. 


XIV  APPENDIX.  NO.   II. 

II.  Tlio  existence  of  writings  in  the  Old  Testament,  written  under  two  spe- 
cies of  inspiration,  is  expressly  affirmed  by  the  Jews  themselves:  they,  indeed, 
have  placed  in  the  second  class  some  which  belong  to  the  first ;  but  the  error 
is  easily  rectified  by  the  testimony  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  quotes  no 
books,  and  acknowledges  none  as  the  Scrhplures,  but  those  which  are  written 
by  the  Plenary  Inspiration,  or  those  in  which,  in  the  language  of  the  Apostle 
Peter,"  the  Holy  Ghost  spake  by  the  mouth  of /«c?i,"*or  wrote  by  their  hands. 

1.  The  Jews  divided  their  sacred  books  into  the  Law,  the  Prophets,  and  the 
Kctubim  or  Hagiographa,  (IVritings,  or  Holy  Writings.)  (].)  The  Law  in- 
cludes the  five  books  of  Moses,  so  called  from  the  preceptive  character  of 
great  part  of  their  contents  :  though  Moses  is  to  be  considered  as  a  prophet, 
and  the  greatest  of  prophets  ;  as  indeed  he  is  expressly  called.!  (2.)  The 
division  denominated  by  them  the  Prophets,  contained  all  the  books  which  we 
call  the  historical  ones,  tcritten  before  the  Bahylonian  captivity,  viz.  those  of 
Joshua,  Judges,  Samuel,  and  Kings  ;  with  all  those,  one  only  excepted,  which 
we  commonly  call  the  prophets.  The  former  of  these  they  called  the  Prior 
or  Jlnterior  Prophets,  and  the  others  the  Later  or  Posterior  ;  and  they  so 
named  them,  not,  as  Hornet  and  others  have  affirmed,  "  with  regard  to  the 
time  when  they  respectively  flourished  ;"  for  it  is  certain  that  the  writings  of 
some  of  the  later  prophets  were  composed  before  those  of  some  of  the  prior  ; 
but  doubtless  for  another  reason  assigned  by  Leusden  :  "  Qtua  Anteriores,  &c. 
Because  the  anterior  prophets  relate  affairs  transacted   before,   or  anterior  to, 

■the  time  of  narrating  them  ;  whereas  tiie  posterior  prophets  treat  of  things  to 
happen  after,  posthrior  to,  or  later  than,  the  de(ivery  of  the  prophecy."  §  (3.) 
The  division  styled  Hagiographa  contains,  according  to  the  modern  Jews, 
the  books  of  Psalms,  Proverbs,  Job,  Canticles,  Ruth,  Lamentations,  Ecclesi- 
astes,  Esther,  Daniel,  Ezra,  Nehcmiah.  and  Chronicles.  But  it  appears  cer- 
tain, by  the  testimony  of  Josephus,||  that  Daniel,  in  his  time,  was  reckoned,  as 
he  so  clearlv  ought  to  be,  among  the  Prophets  ;  and  he  seems  to  have  been 
transferred  to  the  'Hagiographa,  because  those  books  were  not  regularly  read 
in  the  Synagogue,  and  the  Ralibins,  after  tlie  time  limited  by  his  prophecy  of 
tiie  seventy  weeks  for  the  corning  of  the  Messiah  had  undeniably  expired, 
became  unwilling  to  read  before  the  people  so  plain  a  proof  of  their  error  in 
rejecting  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  because,  also,  by  placing  him  among 
books  not  regarded  as  possessing  prophetic  authority,  the  weight  of  his  testi- 
mony would  be  diminished.  It  also  appears  well  established,  that  the  Lamen- 
tatioiLs  and  the  other  writings  of  Jeremiah  were  anciently  reckoned  as ,  one 
book;  and  equally  slationed,  as  is  so  evidently  neccssarj',  among  the 
Prophets. 

2.  BefoH'  we  proceed  further,  it  appears  necessary  to  ascertain  what  is  the 
idea  properly  belongiuff  to  a  Prophet  and  his  writings. 

It  seems  extraordinnrv  that  so  learned  a  writer  as  Leusden  should  pronounce 
it  improper  to  call  all  the  books  so  denominated  by  the  Jews — the   Prophets, 

*  Acts  i.  16.  t  Deut.  xvlii.  15,  xxxiv.  10.  %  Introduction,  vol.  ii.  p.  149, 

vol.  iv.  p.  27.  (Ed.  IS22.)     §  Phil.  Hob.  Dis.  ii.  §  viii.     ||  Ant.  B.  x.  Ch.  xi.  §  7. 


NO.    II.  APPKNDIX.  XV 

"  bccauso  some  of  tlicm  iiro  in  rciility  liistorical  boolcfi,  and  difior  much  iVoin 
prophetical  writings  propi'rly  so  called  ;"*  when  it  is  certain  that  the  seeming 
impropriety  only  arises  from  our  attaching  the  modern  idea  to  the  term  prophit, 
and  forgetting  that  of  the  ancients,  and  particularly  of  the  Jews.  We  now 
generally  think  of  a  Prophet  as  a  foreteller  of  future  events  ;  but  this  idea  i;* 
not  at  all  conveyed  by  the  Hebrew  name  for  the  character,  which  properly 
implies  an  utterer  or  enunciator  of  communications  from  God  ;  or,  as  Park- 
hurst  gives  it,  more  generally,  an  interpreter  of  God's  will,  to  whovi  he  freely 
and  familiarlij  revealed  himself :  in  which  sense  alone  is  it  applicable  to 
Abraham  ;  [Gen.  xx.  7  ;]  or  to  Aaron  :  "  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses, 
See,  I  have  made  thee  a  god  to  Pharaoh,  and  Aaron  thy  brother  shall  be  thy 
PROPHET  :  thou  shall  speak  all  that  I  command  thee,  and  Aaron  thy  brother 
shall  speak  unto  Pharaoh," — not  a  prediction,  observe,  but  a  command, — 
"  that  he  send  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  his  land."  [Ex.  vii.  1,  2.]  This  is 
illustrated  in  another  place,  where  the  Lord  says  to  Moses,  '•  Thou  shalt  speak 
unto  him,  [Aaron,]  and  put  words  inhis  mouth  ; — and  he  shall  be  thy  spokesman 
unto  the  people  :  and  he  sliall  be  to  thee  instead  of  a  mouth,  and  thou  shalt  be 
to  him  instead  of  God."  [Ch.  iv.  15,  IG.]  If  then  Moses  was  to  Aaron  what 
God  is  to  a  prophet,  and  Aaron  was  to  Moses  what  a  prophet  is  to  God,  it  is 
perfectly  evident  that,  in  the  original  sense  of  the  term,  a  prophet  is  ojie  who 
receives  words  from  God,  and  declares  them  to  man  :  he  is  an  eminciator  of 
a  divine  message,  let  the  subject  of  that  message  be  w'hat  it  may  :  and  it  is 
only  because  it  frequently  happened  that  divine  communications  related  to 
things  future,  that  the  word  at  last  acquired  the  signitication  of  a  predicter  of 
i'uture  events.  As  tlie  above  is  the  idea  constantly  attached  in  the  Scriptures 
of  plenary  inspiration  to  the  word  prophet,  the  Jewish  philologers  Jiave  en- 
deavoured to  find  it  in  tlife  word  itself  The  Hebrew  root  is  njbba  (^{^i)  ; 
which  the  celebrated  Solomon  Jarchi  says  is  formed  from  another  root,  nomb  or 
HffB  .(^i),  by  the  addition  of  an  aleph  {^)  taken  out  of  the  name  of  God 
(n*n7^)  :  now  the  word  nab  radically  signifies  to  put  forth  as  a  plant  its 
buds  or  fruit,  whence,  transferred  to  human  speech,  it  means  to  utter,  which  is 
another  kind  of  putting  forth:  when  therefore  from  this  verb  is  formed  the 
verb  NJBBA,  by  the  addition  of  an  aleph  taken  from  the  name  of  God,  it  means 
to  utter  from  divine  dictation.  The  signification  thus  given  to  the  word  for 
prophesying  is  equally  clear  and  weighty  :  nor  does  it  suffer  any  detraction 
from  the  fancifulness  of  the  etymology  :  for  the  meaning  of  the  word  is  not 
dependent  upon  the  etymology,  but  the  etymology  was  invented  to  account 
for  the  well-known  meaning  of  the  Word.t  That  the  ancient  Greeks,  from 
whom  we  have  received  the  word  prophet,  understood  it  in  a  similar  sense,  is 
abundantly  proved  by  Schleusner. 

It  is  quite  evident  then,  that  the  word  prophet,  in  the  Scriptures,  does  not 
merely  signify  a  foreteller  of  future  events,  but  may  be  as  applicable  to  Anterior 
as  to  Posterior  Prophets.     It  is  also  evident,  that  when  the  Jews  gave  this  name 

*  Phil.  Heb-  Dis.  ii.  §  iii.  t  See  Gusset.  Comm.  in  voee. 


XV'l  APPF.?>D1X.  NO.   II. 

to  their  sacred  writings,  they  meant  to  atRrm  that  tliej^  were  written  by  imme- 
diate divine  dictation  :  and  as  the  propriety  of  the  appHcation  is  recognised, 
as  will  presently  be  seen,  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we  have,  in  this  name 
alone,  no  contemptible  evidence,  that  the  books  to  which  it  is  applied  are  the 
productions  of  plenary  and  verbal  inspiration. 

3.  Such  being  the  character  of  the  Projjhets,  what  is  that  of  the  Hagio- 
grtipha  ? 

(1.)  Among  the  books  of  the  HagiograpJia,  when  the  catalogue  is  corrected 
as  above,  it  is  certain  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  only  acknowledges  as  divine 
the  book  of  Psalms  ;  for  when  speaking  of  the  whole  Scripture,  he  calls  it  the 
Law  of  Moses,  the  Prophets,  and  the  Psalms  :  "  All  things  must  be  fulfilled, 
which  were  written  in  the  Law  of  Moses,  and  in  the  prophets,  and  in  the 
Psalms,  concerning  me  :"*  and,  doubtless,  there  is  no  book  among  those  writ- 
ten by  plenary  inspiration,  which  does  not,  either  in  its  literal  or  mystical 
sense,  treat  at  all  of  him.  At  other  times,  when  he  intends  to  speak  of  the 
whole  Word  of  God,  he  calls  it,  more  compendiously,  "  the  Law  and  the 
Prophets,"!  or  "  Moses  and  the  Prophets  ;"j:  and  tlien  he  evidently  includes 
among  "  the  Prophets"  the  book  of  Psalms,  much  of  which  is  palpably,  and  the 
whole  of  it  really,  of  a  prophetical  character  :  accordingly,  David,  the  chief 
author  of  the  Psalms,  is  expressly  denominated  by  Peter  "  a  prophet  ;"§  which 
title  is  never  conferred  on  the  writers  of  the  other  books  called  Hagiographa. 
Ezra  himself,  whom  the  Jews  hold  in  such  honour,  has  no  higher  rank  given 
him  than  that  of  "  a  scribe, "|1  "  a  ready  scribe  in  the  law  of  Moses,"1T  and  "  a 
scribe  of  the  law  of  the  God  of  heaven  ;"** — titles  which  lend  much  support 
to  the  opinion,  that  he  restored  the  copies  of  the  plenarily  inspired  Scriptures, 
and  in  a  manner  republished  them,  but  give  no  countenance  whatever  to  the 
notion  that  his  original  writings  are  equally  inspired.  On  other  occasions  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  calls  the  whole  of  the  books  which  are  eminently  the  Scrip- 
tures, "  the  Law,"tt  and  especially  quotes  the  Psalms  by  that  name.tj  It  is 
quite  certain  then,  that,  by  this  infallible  Authority,  the  Psalms  are  placed  on 
an  equality  with  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  and  are  even  recognised  as  a  part 
of  them  : — a  rank  which  can  on  no  pretence  be  claimed  for  the  other  books  of 
the  Hagiographa.  By  the  same  divine  authority,  Daniel  is  taken  from  the 
Hagiographa,  and  established  in  his  proper  grade  among  the  Prophets  : §  §  the 
book  of  Lamentations  did  not  require  a  similar  recognition,  if  it  was  then  reck- 
oned as  part  of  Jeremiah. 

An  objection  or  two  here  demand  notice. 

(2.)  When  I  say,  that  this  rank  can  on  no  pretence  be  claimed  for  the  other 
books  of  the  Hagiographa,  I  am  not  ignorant  that  it  is  customary  to  affirm, 
that  where  the  Lord  mentions  the  Law,  the  Prophets,  and  the  Psalms,  he  in- 
cludes under  the  latter  title  the  whole  of  the  Hagiographa:  but  really  this  is  a 

*  Luke  sxiv.  44.          t  Matt.  v.  17  ;  xi.  13  ;  xxii.  40.  t  Luke  xvi.  29,  31 ; 

xxiv.  27.            §  Acts  ii.  30.             ||  Neh.  viii.  1.  et  passim.  IT  Ezra  vii.  6. 

**  Ver.  12,  21.                  tt  Matt.  v.  18  ;  Luke  xvi.  17.  U  Jol»n  «•  34. 
§§  Matt.  xxiv.  15. 


NO.  If.  APPr.NDIX.  xvu 

pure  figment,  invented  by  the  scliools  to  support  the  croclit  of  books,  the  true 
nature  of  wliich  they  did  know  how  to  estimate,  and  which  they  saw,  iitiless 
they  could  thus  be  tacked  on  to  the  Psalms,  must  be  confessed  to  be  disowned, 
by  divine  authority,  as  forming  part  of  the  proper  Word  of  God.  In  behalf  of 
this  fiction  it  is  urged,  that  it  was  customary  with  the  Jews  to  connect  several 
books  in  a  volume,  and  to  call  them  all  by  the  name  of  the  first :  but  no  exani- 
plo  of  their  thus  connecting  so  mnny  and  so  different  books  togetlier,  and  giv- 
ing to  them  all  the  name  of  the  first,  ran  be  produced.  It  is  urged,  that  it  was 
usual  thus  to  unite  the  books  of  Judges  and  Ruth,  and  to  call  them  boili 
"  Judges  :"  but  every  one  must  see  that  this  is  by  no  means  a  parallel  case, 
since  Ruth  might,  without  any  obvious  impropriety,  be  considered  as  a  sup- 
plement to  Judges.  The  union  of  Jeremiah  with  Lamentations,  which  is  also 
pleaded,  is  still  less  in  point :  since  these  are  unquestionably  from  the  pen  of 
one  writer.  The  calling  of  the  books  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  the  first  and  se- 
cond books  of  Ezra,  is  not  more  to  the  purpose,  since  this  originated  in  the 
mistake  of  supposing  that  celebrated  "  scribe"  to  be  the  author  of  them  both. 
And  to  appeal  to  the  book  of  the  twelve  minor  prophets,  is  to  produce  a  com- 
parison destitute  of  all  similitude,  since  this  combination  is  not  named,  as  the 
case  in  proof  of  wliich  it  is  cited  requires,  Hosca,  but  the  Twelve.  Indeed,  as 
well  might  the  Divine  Speaker,  instead  of  "  the  Law"  have  said  "  Genesis," 
and  "  Judges"  instead  of"  the  Prophets,"  as  have  named  "  the  Psalms"  instead 
ol' the,  Hagiograpka  :  and  as  well  might  the  learned  undertake  to  prove  that 
he  deviated  fi-om  the  peculiar  Jewish  modes  of  citation  in  not  using  the  two 
first  titles,  as  that  he  followed  it  in  using  the  last.* 

(3.)  Nor  is  the  division  of  the  Scriptures  anciently  used  by  the  Greeks, 
which  regards  the  books  of  Job,  Psalms,  Proverbs,  Ecclesiastes,  and  Canticles, 
as  possessing  a  common  poetical  character,  and  thus  proper  to  form  a  general 
book  together  ;  and  which  many  have  maintained  to  be  the  division  alluded  to 
by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  at  all  capable  of  being  better  accommodated  to  his 
words :  though  it  seems  to  have  been  contrived  expressly  for  the  purpose. 
This  theory  assumes  as  its  basis,  that  these  five  books  are  the  only  poetical 

♦  An  oxample  which  Home  gives  of"  the  Jewish  manner  of  quoting,"  (vol.  ii.  p. 
149,  Note  2,)  with  a  view  to  illustrate  this  subject,  is  singularly  mal-a-propos,  and 
shews  to  what  weak  shifts  the  defenders  of  the  notion  are  fain  to  have  recourse  : 
"  St.  Peter,"  he  observes,  "  when  appealing  to  prophecies  in  proof  of  the  gospel 
says — '  All  the  prophets  from  Samuel,  and  those  that  follow  after,  as  many  as  have 
spoken,  have  likewise  foretold  of  these  days,'  (Acts  iii.  24.)  In  which  passage," 
adds  the  learned  writer,  "  the  apostle  plainly  includes  the  books  of  Samuel  in  the 
class  of  prophets." — Who  doubts  it!  And  who  doubts  that  when  Jesus  Christ 
speaks  of  "  the  prophets,"  he  includes  the  books  of  Samuel "?  But  St.  Peter  ought 
only  to  have  mentioned  Samuel  when  he  meant  all  the  prophets,  to  lend  any  coun- 
tenance to  the  inference,  that  when  Jesus  Christ  mentions  the  Psalms  he  meant  all 
the  Hagiographa.  Peter's  mentioning,  beside  Samuel,  "  all  the  prophets,"  plainly 
shews  that  it  was  not  "  the  Jewish  manner  of  quoting"  to  cite  by  the  lump,  and  to 
destroy  all  intelligible  meaning  by  palpable  misnomers. 
0 


XVlil  APPENDIX.  NO  11. 

books  in  the  Bible,  and  may  on  that  account  all  be  included  under  the  descrip- 
tion of  psalms  or  hymns  :  but  beside  that  none  of  these,  except  the  proper  book 
of  Psalms,  (unless  it  be  that  of  Canticles,)  is  at  all  adapted  for  singing,  it  is  in- 
dubitably known,  since  the  labours  of  Bishop  Lowth,  that  all  the  prophetical 
books  have  as  much  right  to  be  called  poetical  as  these,  the  language  of  them 
all  possessing  quite  as  decided  a  rhythmical  arrangement.  Josephus,  also,  who, 
beside  the  law  and  thirteen  historical  and  prophetical  books,  reckons /owr  oth- 
ers, says  of  these /owr,  that  they  "  contain  hymns  to  God,  and  precepts  for  the 
conduct  of  human  life  ;"*  whence  it  is  evident,  that  the  title  of  Hymns  or 
Psalms,  far  from  being  common  to  all  the  books  since  called  the  poetical  ones, 
was  then,  as  now,  limited  to  the  single  book  which  alone  answers  to  the  name. 
And  assuredly  the  language  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  is  not  less  justly  appro- 
priated to  its  subject,  or  employed  with  less  discrimination,  than  that  of  the 
historian  Josephus. 

Altogether,  it  is  perfectly  evident,  that  the  Jews  never  gave  the  name  of 
"  the  Psalms"  to  any  books  but  the  one  which  bears  it  at  present,  and  that  the 
notion  that  this  was  a  generic  name  for  the  whole  Hagiograpka  has  nothing 
to  support  it  but  gratuitous  assertion :  hence  it  follows,  that  when  the  Lord,  in 
the  passage  above  cited,  mentions  "  the  Psalms,"  he  uses  the  title  in  its  proper 
and  specific  sense,  and  meant  to  select  the  book  so  named  from  those  which 
the  Jews  called  the  Hagiograpka,  and  to  place  this,  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
rest,  in  the  same  rank  with  "  the  Law  and  the  Prophets," — to  claim  for  it 
alone,  in  conjunction  with  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  the  honour  of  immediate 
and  plenary  inspiration. 

4.  Another  proof  that  the  books  called  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  with  the 
Psalms,  are  the  only  books  of  the  Word  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  that  those 
properly  named  Hagiograpka  are  not  so,  but  merely,  as  the  name  implies,  the 
writings  of  holy  men,  is  afforded  by  the  striking  fact,  that  the  latter  are  never 
quoted,  or  in  any  way  referred  to,  by  the  Lord  or  by  the  Evangelists.  Neither 
are  any  of  them,  except  the  book  of  Proverbs,  (four  or  five  times,)  and  the 
book  of  Job,  (once,)  cited  or  alluded  to  in  the  Apostolic  Epistles,  which  so 
abound  with  citations  firom  the  Law  and  the  Prophets.  We  shall  see  present- 
ly, that  the  book  of  Proverbs  is  an  authentic  doctrinal  writing  of  the  Jewish 
Church  ;  whence  it  is  properly  acknowledged  in  the  authentic  doctrinal  writ- 
ings of  the  Christian  Church  :  but  as  such  writings,  though  produced  under  a 
special  illumination,  are  not  absolutely  divine,  they  are  not  noticed  in  those 
books  which  are  divine  indeed ;  being  the  compositions  of  men,  though  of 
highly  gifted  men,  they  are  not  recognised  by  Him  who  receiveth  not  testimo- 
ny front  ma.n.-\  If  their  being  quoted  in  the  Epistles  proved  them  to  belong 
to  the  plenarily  inspired  Scriptures,  we  must  receive  as  plenarily  inspired 
Scripture  the  apocryphal  book  of  Enoch,  quoted  by  Jude,|  and  the  comedies 
of  Mcnander,  cited  by  Paul  ;§  if  not,  also,  the  Phenomena  of  Aratus,||  and  the 
Chrcsmoi  of  Epimenides.lT 

*  Against  Apion,  B.  i.  §  8.        t  John  v.  34.         f  Ver.  14.        §  1  Cor.  xv.  33. 
II  Acts  .xvii.  28.        H  Tit.  i.  12. 


NO.  II.  APPENDIX.  Xix 

5.  Tho  distinction,  then,  between  the  Hagiographa  and  those  writings 
which  tlie  Scriptures  themselves  acknowledge  as  the  Scripxi;res,  is  marked, 
b}'  the  highest  Authority,  with  a  line  sufficiently  broad  and  impassable :  and  it 
is  equally  admitted  by  the  Jews  themselves,  who,  though  their  ideas  on  the 
subject  do  not  seem  very  clear,  affirm  the  inspiration  of  the  Hagiographa  to 
be  essentially  different  in  its  kind  from  that  of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets. 
Home  states  on  this  subject,*  (and  his  statement  is  the  same  in  substance  with 
that  of  Leusden,t)  that  "  this  third  class  or  division  of  the  Sacred  Books  has 
received  its  appellation  of  Cettibim,  or  Holy  Writings,  because  they  were  not 
orally  delivered,  as  the  law  of  Mosos  was  ;  but  the  Jews  affirm,  that  they  were 
composed  by  men  divinely  inspired,  who,  however,  had  no  public  mission  as 
prophets  :  and  the  Jews  conceived  that  they  were  dictated  not  hy  dreains,  vi- 
sions, or  voice,  or  in  other  ways,  as  the  oracles  of  the  prophets  were,  but  that 
they  were  more  immediately  revealed  to  the  minds  of  their  authors  ;"  and  what 
is  this  but  confessing,  that  they  were  not  positively  dictated  at  all,  but  were 
the  thoughts  of  the  minds  of  the  authors,  the  result  of  a  certain  illumination 
which  they  had  received  ?  It  is  true,  that  this  is  described  by  the  Jews  in 
pretty  high  terms  ;  but  not  in  higher  than  those  in  which  they  speak  of  their 
Talmud  and  its  Rabbins,  all  whose  writings  or  sayings,  though  often  avowedly 
contradictory  to  each  other,  they  equally  affirm  to  be  the  productions  of  inspi- 
ration.t  They  admit,  however,  this  inspiration  to  be  not  the  same  as  that  of 
Moses  and  the  prophets.  But  only  two  general  kinds  of  inspiration  can  pos- 
sibly be  conceived  ;  the  one  being  that  in  which  the  inspired  person  is  entirely 
possessed  by  the  inspiring  power,  and,  no  longer  compos  sui,  is  the  mere  organ 
for  expressing  its  dictations  ; — in  which,  according  to  the  precisely  accurate 
definition  of  the  Apostle  Peter,  the  prophecy,  or  thing  enunciated,  comes  not  at 
the  will,  or  pleasure,  of  man,  but  the  party  speaks  as  he  is  moved  or  actuated 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  ;§ — and  the  other  being  that  in  which  the  speaker  or  writer 
still  remains  his  own  master,  and  what  he  delivers  proceeds  from  his  own 
mind,  though  from  a  mind  illuminated  by  a  wisdom  which  is  the  gift  of  God ; 
which  species  of  inspiration,  also,  the  same  Apostle  defines  with  the  same  ac- 
curacy, when  he  says,  "  Even  as  our  beloved  brother  Paul  also,  according  to 
the  wisdom  given  unto  him,  hath  written  unto  you."||  Now  as  the  Jews  do 
not  affirm  that  their  Hagiographers  possessed  the  first  of  these  kinds  of  inspi- 
ration, it  follows,  however  they  inay  express  it,  that  they  only  mean  to  claim 
for  them  the  second. 

6.  A  clear  distinction,  then,  we  find,  between  the  Inspiration  of  the  absolute 
Word  of  God  and  that  of  the  Hagiographa,  comes  out  full  on  all  hands  :  and  a 
slight  inspection  of  the  principal  of  these  writings  will  fiirther  evince,  that  an 
inferior  kind  of  inspiration,  but  sometimes  attended  with  great  illumination,  is 
the  highest  to  which  they  have  any  pretensions. 

(1.)  We  have  stated  above,  that,  owing  to  the  manner  in  which  the  letter 
of  the  Divine  Word  is  necessarily  constructed,  it  is  according  to  the  order  of 

*  Introd.  Vol.  ii.  p.  150.       f  PhU-  Heb.  Dis.  ii.  §  ix.       t  Leusd.    Phil.   Htb.    . 
Mixt.  Dis.  xii.  §  VI.  Dis.  xui.         §  2  Pet.  i.  21.         ||  Ch.  iii.  16. 


XX  APPENDIX.  NO.  11. 

Divine  Providence,  that,  under  every  dispensation  which  derives  its  know- 
ledge of  divine  things  from  a  written  Word,  men  should  be  raised  up  to  de- 
liver authoritatively,  in  less  ambiguous  language,  the  doctrines  proper  to  guide 
the  faith  and  practice  of  that  church  ;  which  doctrines  are  all  contained  in  the 
Word  itself,  and  are  all  capable  of  being  confirmed  by  express  declarations  of 
its  literal  sense.  Now  who  will  not  readily  admit,  that  the  books  of  Proverbs 
and  Ecclesiastes,  though  not  drawn  up  in  the  style  that  would  be  chosen  by 
modern  composers  of  Bodies  of  Divinity,  are  writings  of  this  character,  de- 
livering, in  a  compendious  form,  the  authentic  doctrines  of  the  yet  uncorrupt 
church  of  Israel  ?  How  many  plain  precepts  of  true  wisdom  are  presented, 
in  the  former  part  of  the  book  of  Proverbs,  as  the  exhortations  of  Wisdom 
personified  !  In  the  latter  part,  how  many  dictates  of  prudence  regarding  the 
conduct  of  life  !  In  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes,  how  impressive  a  sermon  is  de- 
livered on  the  unsatisfactoriness  of  all  earthly  enjoyments  ; — a  sermon  most 
admirably  adapted  to  the  correction  of  the  Jewish  character,  which  is  so  prone 
to  place,  in  earthly  enjoyments,  the  whole  of  its  satisfactions  !  So,  after  the 
author  of  "  the  Proverbs"  has  propounded  the  design  of  the  book,  and  has 
stated,  almost  in  so  many  words,  that  he  is  about  to  deliver  a  body  of  doctrine, 
how  suitably  to  such  a  design  does  he  begin  his  instructions  with  declaring,  in 
a  quotation  fiom  the  plenarily  inspired  Scriptures  which  speaks  the  plain 
truth  in  the  letter,  that  "  the  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  knowledge  !"* 
and  how  appropriately  as  well  as  pithily  does  the  author  of  Ecclesiastes  close 
his  work  with  the  sum  of  all  true  doctrine,  concisely  stated  in  language  taken 
from  the  same  source  :  "  Let  us  hear  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  : 
Fear  God  and  keep  his  commandvients  :  for  this  is  the  whole  duty  of  man  !"t 
It  is  true  that  both  these  books  contain  much  figurative  language  ;  but  they 
are  not  written  with  a  uniform  regard  to  the  laws  of  spiritual  Analogy,  and  do 
not,  like  those  books  which  are  so  written,  include  a  spiritual  sense  in  a  regu- 
lar series :  thus  the  words  in  which  the  sentiments  are  expressed  were  not 
dictated,  as  in  the  other  books,  to  the  pen  of  the  writer,  but  were  selected  by 
himself:  and  though  phrases  borrowed  from  the  language  of  Analogy  are  fre- 
quently introduced,  they  are  such  as  are  still,  for  the  most  part,  easily  intelli- 
gible, and  must,  among  the  orientals,  have  been  quite  familiar.  Indeed,  one 
intention  of  the  book  of  Proverbs  is  expressly  stated  to  be,  to  enable  the  read- 
er "  to  understand  a  proverb,  and  the  interpretation  ;  the  words  of  the  wise, 
and  their  dark  sayings  :"|  and  thus  to  afford  a  clew  to  the  doctrinal  interpre- 
tation of  the  Holy  Word,  according  to  the  highest  views  that  were  capable 
of  being  received  under  the  Jewish  dispensation. 

(2.)  But  a  considerable  portion  of  the  books  of  the  Hagiographa  consists 
of  historical  writings  ;  and  these,  if  not  directly  useful  for  the  doctrinal  inter- 
pretation of  the  Word,  are  yet  eminently  so  for  the  elucidation  of  many  allu- 
sions in  it,  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  understand  without  a  knowledge  of 
some  facts,  respecting  wiiich  the  historical  books  of  the  Word  itself  are  sileiil. 
This  remark  is  eminently  true  in  regard  to  the  books  yf  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  and 

*  Prov.  i.  7 :  Sec  Ps.  cxi.  10.     t  Eccl.  xu.  13  :  See  Deut.  vi.  2.      t  Ch.  i.  6.* 


NO.   II.  APPF-NDIX.  xxi 

Chronicles  :  whatever  then  mijjlit  be  the  degree  of  ihc  secondary  inspiration 
enjoyed  by  th>e  writers  and  compilers  of  those  books,  we  can  have  little  hesita- 
tion in  conceding  to  them,  all  that  Bishop  Toinline  requires  us  to  admit  re- 
specting the  historical  books  that  are  absolutely  the  Scriptures  ;  when  he 
says,  '•  It  is  sutficient  to  believe,  that,  by  the  general  superintendence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  they  were  directed  in  the  choice  of  their  materials,  enlightened 
to  judge  of  the  truth  and  importance  of  those  accounts  from  which  tliey  bor- 
rowed their  information,  and  prevented  from  recording  any  material  error  ;' — 
a  description  which  is  as  honourable  and  just,  when  applied  to  these  Hagio- 
graphers,  as  it  is  unjust  and  degrading  wlien  ajiplied  to  the  Anterior  Propliets. 
(3.)  But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  Song  of  Solomon  ?  Doubtless  the  reader 
expects  that  I  should  be  glad  of  a  plea  for  taking  this  book  out  of  the  Hagio- 
grupha,  and  vindicating  its  title  to  a  place  among  the  prophets.  Many  who 
will  deny  the  Scriptures  to  be  written  in  the  language  of  Analogy,  and  will 
not  hear  oi  their  containing  a  spiritual  sense  throughout,  will  be  ready  enough 
to  make  us  a  present  of  this  book,  to  be  thus  decyphered,  and  proved  to  be 
really  an  edifying  performance.  But  we  cannot  avail  ourselves  of  the  boon  : 
and  we  think  that  modern  expositors  have  erred  as  much  in  seeking  for  spirit- 
ual mysteries  in  this  amatory  effusion,  as  in  rejecting  them  in  the  greater  part 
of  the  books  which  are  essentially  divine.  Here  the  interpreters  are  ready  to 
adopt  any  mode  of  explanation  that  will  give  a  religious  turn — to  what  .''  to  a 
work  which  never  speaks  of  God,  nor  shews  by  a  single  trait  that  God  was 
ever  in  the  thoughts  of  the  writer.  Even  the  true  principle  of  spiritual  inter- 
pretation has  here  been  thought  of,  and  endeavoured  to  be  applied  :  and  the 
analogy  of  the  marriage  covenant  has  been  beautifully  deduced  for  this  pur- 
pose by  Bishop  Lowth.*  Speaking  of  the  covenant  between  God  and  his 
church,  the  conditions  of  which  are,  "  on  the  one  part,  love,  protection,  and 
support  ;  on  the  other,  faith,  obedience,  and  worship  pure  and  devout  ;"  he 
proceeds  thus  :  "  This  is  that  conjugal  union  between  God  and  his  church  ; 
that  solemn  compact  so  frequently  celebrated  by  almost  all  the  sacred  writers 
under  this  image.  It  is,  indeed,  a  remarkable  instance  of  that  species  of 
metaphor  which  Aristotle  calls  analogical  ;  that  is,  when,  in  a  proposition 
consisting  of  four  ideas,  the  first  bears  the  same  relation  to  the  second  as  the 
third  does  to  the  fourth,  and  the  corresponding  words  may  occasionally 
change  their  places  without  any  injury  to  the  sense.  Thus,  in  this  form  of 
expression,  God  is  supposed  to  bear  exactly  the  same  relation  to  the  church 
as  a  husband  to  a  wife  ;  God  is  represented  as  the  spouse  of  the  church,  and 
the  church  as  betrothed  to  God.  Thus  also,  when  the  same  figure  is  main- 
tained with  a  different  mode  of  expression,  and  connected  with  different  cir- 
cumstances, the  relation  is  still  the  same  :  thus  the  piety  of  the  people,  their 
impiety,  their  idolatry,  and  rejection,  stand  in  the  same  relation  with  respect  to 
the  sacred  covenant,  as  chastity,  modesty,  immodesty,  adultery,  with  respect 
to  the  marriage  contract,"  «&,c.     This  is  a  valuable  testimony  in  favour  of  the 


♦  Apud  Ilornc,  Vol.  iv.  p.  141,  112. 


XXU  APPENDIX.  NO.  II. 

principle  of  Analogy,  the  regularity  which  properly  belongs  to  it,  and  its  use 
in  the  Word  of  God  :  it  is  also  an  elegant  and  clear  elucidation  of  the  specific 
analogy  which  the  marriage-union  beai-s  to  the  connection  of  God  with  his 
church  ;  but  to  apply  this  to  the  erotic  strains  of  the  Song  of  songs,  appears  a 
real  prostitution.  The  image  is  truly  said  to  be  of  irequent  occurrence  in  the 
really  divine  books  of  Scripture  ;  but  it  is  there  always  used  with  the  dignity 
and  gravity  suited  to  the  august  Being  who  is  the  principal  party  in  the  repre- 
sented union.  It  is  true,  also,  that  the  image  afforded  by  the  conjugal  cove- 
nant is  exactly  representative  of  the  union  between  God  and  his  church  :  but 
every  love-song  is  not  therefore  to  be  gravely  explained  of  this  sacred  union  : 
and  it  will  be  ditiicult  to  say,  if  this  explanation  is  to  be  admitted  in  regard  to 
the  Song  of  Solomon,  why  it  should  not  be  applied  to  the  Idyls  of  Theocritus, 
between  which  and  the  Hebrew  poem  the  critics  have  discovered  some  extra- 
ordinary points  of  similitude.  It  is  true,  again,  that  the  language  of  the  book, 
like  that  of  all  oriental  poetry,  is,  throughout,  loaded  with  figures,  some  of 
v\'hich,  no  doubt,  are  drawn  fi"om  the  language  of  Analogy  :  but  it  is  not  the 
containing  of  a  few,  nor  even  of  many,  phrases  and  ideas  of  this  kind,  that 
will  impart  to  a  book  a  truly  spiritual  sense.  As  hieroglyphical  representa- 
tions were  applied  to  other  subjects  beside  religious  ones,  so  were  the  forms 
of  speech  drawn  from  the  lower  analogies.  Thus,  of  ideas  connected  with 
the  subject  of  love,  numerous  images  may  be  found  in  inanimate  and  irrational 
objects.  Various  significant  phrases  of  this  kind  are  contained  in  this  poem  ; 
and  because  these  give  it  a  mystical  air,  it  has  been  assinned  to  be  a  divine 
composition,  treating  of  no  lower  love  than  that  between  the  Lord  and  his 
church.  As  a  sample  of  Asiatic  pootrj' ,  the  Song  of  Solomon  may  be  very 
beautiful  ;  and  it  certainly  is  very  interesting,  as  a  curious  remain  of  antiquity  : 
but  as  it  contains  nothing  that  savours  of  holiness,  any  further  than  as  all  mu- 
tual love  that  is  sincere  and  pure  is  holy,  there  is  room  to  suspect  that  the 
Jews  have  made  a  mistake  in  putting  this  poem  even  among  their  Hagiogra- 
jjha.  Not  one  reference  to  it  can  be  fairly  traced  in  the  New  Testament ; 
though  the  conmientators,  sensible  how  much  it  stood  in  need  of  countenance, 
liave  not  failed  to  force  a  few. 

Very  different  is  the  book  of  Job,  which  abounds  with  real  spiritual  analo- 
gies, and  the  whole  structure  of  which  is  doubtless  framed  to  convey  an  impor- 
tant spiritual  lesson.  Its  great  antiquity  is  acknowledged  ;  and  indeed  it 
scarcely  seems  to  be  a  writing  belonging  to  the  Mosaic  dispensation  :  but  an 
attempt  to  estimate  the  true  character  of  this  book  would  demand  an  extended 
discussion,  and  is  not  at  all  necessary  to  the  present  argument. 

Perhaps  we  may  now  be  permitted  to  consider,  that  the  point  in  question, 
as  far  as  regards  the  Old  Testament  is  established  ; — that  in  that  division  of 
the  Bible  the  books  properly  called  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  with  the 
Psalms,  arc  alone  written  by  the  plenary  inspiration  ;  and  that  the  bulk  of 
those  denominated  Hagiographa  consists  of  doctrinal,  and  supplementary 
historical  writings,  designed  to  assist  the  interpretation  of  the  former. 


NO.   II.  APPENDIX.  XXIU 

III.  In  regard  to  the  smaller  collection  of  tlio  New  Tedtanient,  the  case  will 
be  found  to  be  the  same  :  and  though  here  we  do  not  possess,  respecting  the 
several  books  which  compose  it,  the  recorded  testimony  of  the  Lord  Jesun 
Christ  to  determine  to  which  class  they  respectively  belong,  the  internal  evi- 
dence afforded  by  the  books  themselves  is  sutficient  to  guide  our  judgment  : 
beside  which,  strong  external  evidence  may  also  be  offered. 

Suppose  then,  in  the  New  Testament,  the  four  Gospels  be  considered  as 
possessing  a  character  similar  to  that  of  the  Law  and  Anterior  Prophets  of 
the  Old  Testament,  and  the  Apocalypse  as  belonging  to  the  same  class  as  the 
Posterior  Prophets  ;  whilst  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  their  Epistles,  an- 
swer to  the  ancient  Hagiographa,  though  replete  with  the  superior  light 
belonging  to  a  higher  dispensation  :  thus  that  the  Gospels  and  Apocalypse 
were  written  by  the  primary  and  plenary,  and  the  Acts  and  Epistles  by  the 
secondary  and  personal  inspiration  :  in  which  case,  in  the  former  books  the 
very  words  will  be  inspired,  and  will  contain  a  spiritual  sense  within  them, 
and  in  the  latter,  the  doctrinal  sentiments  alone  will  partake  of  inspiration. 

1.  We  will  not  here  offer  any  examples  to  shew,  that  the  Gospels  and 
Apocalypse  contain  a  spiritual  sense,  which  is  the  necessary  consequence  of 
plenary  inspiration  ;  some  are  given  in  the  Lectures  themselves.  But  we 
may  observe,  (1.)  as  some  sort  of  external  evidence,  that  an  idea  of  the  greater 
sanctity,  and  more  immediate  divinity,  of  the  Gospels  than  of  the  Epistles, 
extensively  prevailed  in  the  early  ages  of  Christianity.  I  take  a  few  testimo- 
nies hastily  from  Lardner. 

Ignatius  speaks  of  "  fleeing  to  the  Gospel  as  the  flesh  of  Jesus,  and  to  the 
Apostles,  as  the  presbyters  of  the  church."*  Justin  Martyr  says,  "  The  Gos- 
pels were  read  publicly  as  well  as  the  Old  Testament  ;"t  but  he  does  not  say 
the  same  of  the  Epistles.  Irenaeus  says,  "  the  doctrines  of  the  Apostles  are 
agreeable  to  the  Sacred  Scriptures  ;"t  thus  distinguishing  them  from  the 
Scriptures  themselves.  Augustine  says,  "  In  the  New  Testament,  the  four 
Gospels  have  the  highest  authority."^ 

(2.)  That  the  Gospels  are  written  by  the  plenary  inspiration,  is  also  what 
any  man  would  naturally  expect,  who  reflects  on  the  nature  of  the  matters 
which  they  contain  ;  for  surely  no  language  but  that  of  plenary  inspiration  can 
be  worthy  of  recording  the  actions  and  discourses  of  the  Incarnate  God.  The 
subject  is  too  eminently  sacred,  and  too  profoundly  important,  to  be  easily 
compatible  with  the  supposition,  that  He  to  whom  it  relates  would  suffer  the 
narratives  of  it,  which  have  actually  been  received  as  authentic  and  venerated 
as  divine  through  all  ages  of  the  church,  to  be  composed  in  any  but  the  truly 
divine  style  of  writing.  If  the  books  of  Moses  and  the  Anterior  Prophets, 
which  art;  chiefly  of  the  historical  kind,  recording  the  dealings  of  God  with  the 
children  of  Israel,  were,  on  account  of  the  spiritual  signification  of  the  things 
of  which  they  treat,  delivered  in  the  style   which  constitutes  a  writing  the  ah- 

♦  Gospel  History,  vol.  iii.  p.  178,  8vo.  ed.        f  Vol.  iii.  p.  262.        J  lb.  p.  39S. 
§  Vol.  xii.  p.  302. 


XXIV  APPENDIX.  NO.   II. 

solute  Word  of  GoJ,  and  were,  as  we  have  seen,  acknowledged  as  such  by 
the  Word  Incarnate  ;  much  more  should  we  expect  that  the  authentic  accounts 
of  the  Incarnation,  Life,  Death,  Resurrection,  and  Glorification,  of  the  Word 
made  Flesh,  would  be  given  by  the  same  inspiration,  and  would  equally  be- 
long to  the  written  Word.  All  such  parts  of  them  as  record  the  discourses  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  if  they  only  faithfully  record  them,  vnist  be  of  this  cha- 
racter. For,  as  is  shewn  in  the  Lectures,  all  revelation  of  the  Divine  Truth 
flows  from  God,  who  is  in  the  inmost  of  all  things,  into  the  world  of  nature, 
and  there  clothes  itself  with  natural  expressions  ;  whence  it  necessarily  includes 
spiritual  and  divine  ideas  in  its  bosom  which  do  not  appear  upon  the  surface  : 
now  if  we  believe  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  while  on  earth,  to  have  been  the  Di- 
vine Truth  itself  personified, — to  have  been  "  the  Word"  which  "  was  with 
God,"  and  which  "  was  God,"*  "  made  Flesh, "t  then  must  all  his  words  have 
been  divine  in  the  most  absolute  sense  ;  they  must  have  flowed  fi-om  the  Di- 
vinity resident  within  him,  and  must  have  been  the  proper  expressions,  in  na- 
tural language  supplied  from  the  human  part  of  his  constitution,  of  the  pure 
Divine  Wisdom :  accordinglj',  as  is  shewn  in  the  second  Lecture, ^  he  himself 
claims  for  tliem  a  spiritual  and  divine  meaning.  And  all  the  actions  of  this 
wonderful  Being  must  have  been  equally  expressive.  For,  as  is  shewn  in  the 
third  Lecture,  none  of  the  objects  in  outward  nature  are  arbitrary  creations, — 
mere  shells  of  matter  unconnected  with  any  spiritual  essence,  but  are  actual 
outbirths  from  things  of  a  superior  order, — developements  in  a  lower  sphere 
of  purer  existences  in  a  higher,  and  first  originating  in  their  prototypes  in  the 
Divine  Nature,  for  the  expression  of  which  they  thus  afford  the  proper  corres- 
ponding types.  Now  if  this  is  the  character  of  all  the  works  of  Divinity,  it 
must  equally  be  the  character  of  all  the  actions  of  a  Being  who  had  Divinity 
within  him.  As  every  word  which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  spoke  while  on 
earth,  he  spoke  from  the  Divinity  within  him  ;  so  every  work  which  he  per- 
formed, he  performed  from  the  same  Source  ;  and  both  must  equally  have  been 
expressions  of  divine  affections  and  ideas.  When  he  spoke,  he  could  not  but 
communicate  divine  instruction  ;  and  when  he  acted,  he  could  not  but  com- 
municate divine  instruction  also  ;  only,  as  the  commentators  affirm  of  many 
typical  events  in  the  Old  Testament,  he  then  communicated  instruction  by 
actions  instead  of  words.  Is  it  then  to  be  supposed,  that  the  just  recording  of 
actions  so  weighty,  the  true  import  of  which  might  be  lost  by  the  slightest 
misstatement,  or  by  the  use,  in  describing  them,  of  a  single  inappropriate  ex- 
pression, would  not  be  provided  for  by  plenary  and  verbal  inspiration  ?  The 
recording  of  the  most  wonderful  of  all  events  that  have  ever  been  transacted 
on  the  theatre  of  the  universe,  and  the  most  pregnant  with  eternal  conse- 
quences, is  too  holy  an  ark  to  be  touched  with  unhallowed  hands ;  and  all 
hands  must  here  be  regarded  as  unhallowed,  even  those  of  the  holiest  of  men, 
if  in  any  respect  actuated  by  "  the  will  of  men,"— if  not  entirely,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  all  human  operation,  possessed  and  "  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 
» 

*  John  i.  1.  t  Ver.  14.  t  P.  51,  52. 


NO.   II.  APPENDIX.  XXY 

(3.)  But  proof  quite  demonstrative  of  tlie  plenary  and  verbal  inspiration  of 
the  Evangelists,  niiglit,  I  am  satisfied,  be  drawn  out  of  the  famous  controversy 
on  the  origin  of  the  three  first  Gospels  :  but  to  do  any  justice  to  this  argument 
would  require  an  extended  discussion;  and  our  limits  will  here  confine  us  to 
a  brief  statement. 

No  one  can  have  read  the  New  Testament  with  any  attention,  without  hav- 
ing obser\ed,  that  there  is,  amoi>g  the  three  first  Gospels,  a  considerable  simi- 
larit}',  which  extends  so  far,  that  they  frequently  detail  occurrences  in  the  very 
same  words.  This  has  given  rise  to  an  opinion,  that  they,  in  part  at  least, 
copied  from  euch  other  ;  and  as  the  resemblance  is  greatest  between  Matthew 
and  Mark,  it  became  usual  with  many  to  consider  the  Gospel  of  Mark  as  a 
mere  abridgment  of  that  of  Matthew.  More  accurate  examination,  however, 
Jkis  shewn,  that  this  is  a  mistake  ;  and  it  has  even  been  proved  to  be  in  the 
highest  degree  probable,  that  the  Evangelists  never  saw  each  other's  composi- 
tions, and  quite  certain  that  not  one  of  them  copied  from  either  of  the  others 
in  preparing  his  own.  This  being  ascertained,  the  critics,  to  account  for  their 
resemblances,  had  recourse  to  the  supposition,  that  some  prior  document,  since 
lost,  was  extant  before  an}'  of  the  Gospels  was  written,  and  that  the  three  first 
Evangelists,  tiiough  they  did  not  copy  from  each  other,  all  drew  from  one 
common  source.  But  it  was  soon  found  that  the  supposition  of  one  previous 
document  would  by  no  means  account  for  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case  : 
and  whoever  wishes  to  see  the  extent  of  gratuitous  supposition  which  the  ad- 
vocates of  this  theory  are  compelled  to  employ,  before  they  can  make  it  yield 
even  a  possible  solution  of  the  difficulty,  should  consult  Bishop  Alarsh's  elabo- 
rate Essay  on  the  origin  of  the  three  lirst  Gospels,.appended  to  his  translation 
of  Michaelis  on  the  New  Testament :  the  learned  writer  is  obliged  to  conjure 
up  no  fewer  than  ten  imaginary  sets  of  memoirs,  before  he  can  find  sufficient 
materials  for  the  construction  of  these  Gospels:  and,  after  all,  his  hypothesis 
has  been  shewn,  by  Bishop  Randolph.  Mr.  Veysie,  and  others,  not  completely 
to  explain  the  phaenomena,  and,  if  it  did,  to  be  itself  attended  with  difficulties 
which  render  its  truth  impossible.  Other  attempts  to  account  for  the  coinci- 
dences and  variations  of  the  three  first  Evangelists,  upon  the  supposition  of 
their  being  drawn  from  prior  documents,  have  been  made  :  but  their  failure 
has  been  such  as  completely  to  prove,  that  the  theory  of  their  copying  from 
previous  documents  is  as  incapable  of  solving  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
as  that  of  their  copying  from  one  another. 

What  then  must  be  the  conclusion  .'' 

The  facts,  be  it  remembered,  are  these : 

A  frequent  verbal  agreement  occurs  among  the  three  Evangelists,  and  this, 
not  only  when  they  relate  the  discourses  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  where  some 
agreement  might  be  expected ;  but  when  they  are  narrating  facts. 

But  it  is  evident,  that  if  two  or  three  eye-witnesses  of  certain  facts  were  af- 
terwards to  draw  up  an  accoimt  of  them,  though  they  might  agree  in  the  main 
cin;umstances,  they  would  never  relate  tlieui  in  precisely  the  same  words. 
D 


XXvi  APPENDIX.  NO.  II. 

Where,  then,  two  or  more  merely  human  historians  relate  their  facts  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  words,  we  have  a  sure  proof  that  they  either  copied  from  each 
other,  or  from  some  common  document  accessible  to  them  all. 

But  it  appears  to  be  certain,  that  the  coincidences  of  the  Evangelists  cannot 
be  accounted  for  from  either  of  these  causes. 

What  solution  then  remains,  but  that  they  drew  from  a  common  source  of 
a  different  nature  ;  viz.  from  the  Spirit  of  God,  which  not  only  inspired  them 
in  regard  to  the  facts  which  they  were  to  record,  (which  degree  of  inspiration, 
even,  is  totally  incompatible  with  the  picking  and  culling,  altering  and  omit- 
ting processes  which  the  other  theories  involve,)  but  dictated  to  their  pens  the 
very  words  in  which  they  should  record  them  ?  This  is,  in  reality,  the  most 
natural  solution  of  the  difficulty  ;  or  rather,  it  is  a  solution  of  the  case  which 
removes  all  difficulty  :  since  the  circumstances  are  found  to  admit  of  no  other, 
it  is  the  only  possible  one,  also  ;  and,  to  those  who  admit  the  possibility,  which, 
I  believe,  none  have  ever  denied,  of  plenary  and  verbal  inspiration,  it  is  equal- 
ly easy  and  satisfactoiy. 

And  if  this  will  account  for  the  verbal  agreements  of  the  Evangelists,  it  will 
equally  account  for  their  variations  :  but  that  is  a  question  which  we  will  not 
take  up  here.     Something  is  said  upon  it  in  the  sixth  Lecture. 

There  is  then,  unquestionably,  very  strong  reason  for  supposing,  that  the 
Gospels  are  written  by  plenary  inspiration,  and,  of  course,  contain  a  spiritual 
sense  within  the  outward  expression  :  and  surely  as  much  may  be  said  of  that 
evidently  symbolic  and  mysterious  composition,  the  Apocalypse.  We  may 
then  safely  assume,  that  these  books  are  the  plenarily  inspired  writings, — the 
Law  and  the  Prophets, — of.the  New  Testament. 

2.  And  it  will  be  found,  on  a  careful  examination,  that  the  other  books  of 
the  New  Testament  are  its  Hagiographa,  and  are  to  be  understood,  except 
when  they  relate  visions  or  prophecies,  by  their  literal  expression  alone  ;  that 
they  contain  the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion,  with  the  actions  of  some 
of  its  first  promoters,  written  by  men  whose  minds  were  under  a  general  illu- 
mination from  the  Spirit  of  God. 

(L)  In  application  to  these  books,  the  nature  of  inspiration  is  accurately 
laid  down  by  Dr.  A.  Clarke,  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Whitby,  one  of  the  most 
learned  and  highly  esteemed  of  the  Commentators  on  the  New  Testament : 
but  I  choose  to  take  his  testimony  from  Dr.  Clarke,  because  it  thus  comes  as 
the  decision  both  of  Church-of-England  and  of  Methodist  orthodoxy.  Dr.  W., 
indeed,  applies  his  assertions  to  all  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament ;  but  it 
is  remarkable,  that  he  finds  his  proofs  in  the  Epistolary  compositions  alone. 
His  words  are  these  : 

"  I  contend  only  for  such  an  in-spiration  or  divine  assistance  of  the  sacred 
writers  of  the  New  Testament,  as  will  assure  us  of  the  truth  of  what  they 
wrote,  whether  by  inspiration  of  suggestion,  or  direction  only  ;  but  not  for 
Buch  an  inspiration  as  implies,  that  even  their  words  were  dictated,  or  their 
phrases  suggested,  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  This,  in  some  matters  of  great  mo- 
ment, might  be  so  ;  St.  Paul  declaring  that '  they  spoke  the  tilings  which  wera 


NO.    II.  APPENDIX.  XXVil 

given  them  of  God,  in  the  words  which  tlie  Holy  Ghost  teacheth,'  (1  Cor,  ii. 
13  ;)  if  that  relate  not  to  what  the  Holy  Ghost  had  taught  them  out  of  the  Old 
Testament.     But  that  it  was  not  always  so,  is  evident,  both  from  the  conside- 
ration that  they  were  Hagiographers,  wlio  are  suffered  to  be  left  to  the  use  of 
their  own  words  ;  and  from  the  variety  of  tlie  style  in  which  they  write,*  and 
from  the  solecisms  which  are  sometimes  visible  in  their  compositions  ;  and 
more  especially  from  their  own  words,  which  manifestly  shew,  that,  in  some 
cases,  they  had  no  such  suggestion  from  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  doth  imply,  that 
lie  had  dictated  those  words  unto  them.     For  instance,  when  St.  Paul  declares 
his  will  or  purpose  to  do  what  ho  was  hindered  by  the  providence  of  God  from 
doing  ;  as  when  he  says  to  the  Romans  :    '  When  I  go  into  Spain,  I  will  come 
to  you,'  (ch.  XV.  24.)     '  I  will  come  by  you  into  Spain,'  (ver.  2S.)      For  though 
he  might,  after  his  enlargement,  go  into  the  west,  where  St.  Clement   says   he 
preached  ;  and  even  into  Spain,  as  Cyril,  Epiphanius,  and  Theodoret,  say  he 
did  ;  yet  it  is  certain  he  did  not  designedly  go  to  Rome  in  order  to  an  intend- 
ed journey  into  Spain  :    And  when  he  says  to  the  Corinthians,  '  I  will  come 
to  you  when  I  pass  through  Macedonia,'  *{1  Cor.  xvi.  5,)   and   yet  confesses, 
in  his  second  Epistle,  (i.  15,  IG,  17,)  that  he  did  not  perform  that  journey  :  for 
it  is  not  to  be  thought  the  Holy  Ghost  should  incite  him  to  promise,  or  even  to 
purpose,  what  he   knew  he  would  not  perform.     This  also  we  learn  from  all 
those  places  in  whicli  they  do  express  their  ignorance,  or  doubtfulness,  of  that 
which  they  are  speaking  of;  as  when  St.  Paul  says,   '  /  know  not  whether  I 
baptized  any  other,'   (1  Cor.  i.  16  :)  and  again,  '  Perhaps  I  will   abide   with 
you,  and  winter  with  you,'  (1  Cor.  xvi.  6  :)  and  when   St.  Peter  says,  '  By 
Sylvanus,  a  faithful  brother,  as  I  siippose,  I  have  written  unto  you,'   (1  Pet. ' 
V.  12.)     For  these  words  do  plainly  shew,  that  in  all  these  things  they  had  no 
inspiration  or  divine  assistance.     This,  lastly,  may  be  gathered  from  all  those 
places  in  which  they  only  do  express  their  hope,  and  that  conditionally,   of 
doing  this  or  that  ;  as  in  these  words  :    '  I  hope  to  see  you  in  my  journey  ;* 
(Rom.  XV.  2.)     '  I   will  come  unto  you  quickly,  if  the  Lord  will  ;'    (1  Cor.  iv. 
1!).)  '  /  hope  to  stay  some  time  with  you,  if  tlie  Lord  permit ;'  (1  Cor.  xvi.  7.) 
'  /  hope  in  the  Lord  Jesus  to  send  Timothy  quickly  to  you  ;'  (Phil.  ii.  19,  23.) 
'  And  /  trust  that  I  myself  also  shall  come  quickly  ;'  (24.)      '  These   things 
I  write,  hoping  to  come  to  thee  quickly  ;  but  if  I  should  tarry,  that  thou  may- 
est  know  how  to  behave  thyself  in  the  church  of  God  ;'    (1  Tim.  iii.  14,  15.) 
'  /  hope  by  your  prayers,  to  be  given   unto  you  ;'    (Philem.  22.)      '  This  will 
we  do,   if  the  Lord   permit  ;'    (Heb.  vi,  3.)     '  /  hope  to  come  to  you  ;'  •  (St. 
John,  2  Ep.  12,  3  Ep.  14.)     For  spes  est  inccrta  rei  nomen  ; — the  word  hope 
implies  an  uncertainty  ;  whereas  the  Holy  Spirit  cannot  be  uncertain  of  any 
thing  ;  nor  can  we  think  he  would  inspire  men  to  speak  so  uncertainly  ;  and 
there  can  be  no  necessity,  nor  even  a  use,  of  a   divine  assistance   to   enable 
a  man  to  express   his   hopes,  seeing  all  men  do,  by  natural  reflection,  know 
them." 

*  This  however,  as  is  shewn  in  the  Lecture  above,  is  not  a  conclusive  reason. 


3CXV111  APPENDIX.  NO.  II. 

It  will  doubtless  be  admitted,  that  Dr.  Whitby  has  here  proved,  with  perfect 
clearness,  that  the  New  Testament  has  its  Hagiograplm  as  well  as  the  Old. 
Thus  he  has  proved,  that  the  Apostolical  Epistles  are  not  writings  of  plenary 
inspiration,  and  that  the  personal  inspiration  of  the  first  teachers  of  Christiani- 
ty consisted  in  a  general  illumination  and  divine  direction,  but  did  not  extend 
to  their  very  words.  I  will  only  add  a  few  remarks  upon  a  passage  in  their 
writings,  which,  while  it  plainly  declares  that  their  inspiration  was  not  in 
general  more  immediate  than  this,  has  mistakenly  been  supposed  to  imply 
also,  that  on  some  occasions  what  they  delivered  was  the  absolute  Word  of 
the  Lord. 

(2.)  The  Apostle  Paul,  wlien  giving  his  advice  on  certain  questions  relating 
to  the  marriage  state,  says,  "  But  I  speak  this  by  permission,  and  not  of  com- 
mandment."*    Presently  he  says,  "  And  unto  the  married  /  command,  yet  not 
I,  hut  the  Lord,  Let  not  the  wife  depart  from   her   husband  :    but   and  if  she 
depart,  let  her  remain  unmarried,  or  be  reconciled  to  her  husband  :    And   let 
not  the  husband  put  away  his  wife.     But  to  the  rest  speak  J,  not  the  Lord."\ 
Again  he  says,   "  Now  concerning  tirgins,   /  have   no   commandment  of  the 
Lord  :  yet  I  give  my  judgment,  as  one  ^that  hath  obtained  mercy  of  the  Lord 
to  be  faithful."]:    Again,  respecting  a  widow's  remaining  single,  he  says,  "  She 
is  happier  if  she  so  abide,  after  my  jv.dgmetit ;  and  J  think  also  that  I  have 
the  Spirit  of  God."\     Here  he  expressly  gives  his  own  judgment,  as  some- 
thing distinct  from,  and  inferior  to,  the  positive  command  of  the  Lord,  and 
not  even  infallible  ;  and  yet  as  the  result  of  a  certain  inspiration, — of  his  pos- 
sessing the  Spirit  of  God.     He  plainly  teaches  then,  that  his   own   personal 
inspiration  consisted  in  a  certain  general  illumination  of  the  understanding  : 
hnX  whAi  \s  ihe  commandment  of  the  Lo9<^,  which  he  considers  so  superior.' 
Authors  tell  us,  '•  that  the  subject  of  which  the  Apostle  here  delivers  his  opin- 
ion, was  a  matter  of  Christian  prudence, — not  a  part  of  religious  sentiment  or 
practice."     "  But,"  they  say,   '•  the  Apostle's  declaration,  that  as  to  this  parti- 
cular matter,  he  spoke  by  permission  and  not  of  commandment,  strongly  im- 
plies, that  in  other  things,  in  tilings  really  of  a  religious  nature,  he  did  speak 
by  commandment  from  the  Lord.     Accordingly,  in  the  same  chapter,  when 
he  had  occasion  to  speak  of  what  was  matter  of  moral  duty,  he  immediately 
claimed  to  be  under  divine  direction  in  what  he  wrote  ;    Jind  unto  the  married 
I  command,  yet  not  I  hut  the  Lord,   Let  not  the   icife  depart  from  her  hus- 
band."\\     But  the  distinction  between    points  of  duty  and   of  prudence  here 
laid  down,  will  not  hold  through  :  for  the  advice  which  the  Apostle  introduces 
with,   "  But  unto  the  rest  speak  I,  not  the  Lord,"  does  relate  to  -a  question  of 
moral  duty  :  it  is  no  less  than  this  :  Whether  the  reception  of  Christianity  is 
a  justificatory  plea  for  putting  away  a  wife  or  deserting  a  husband  :  and  the 
Apostle  decides  it  thus  :    "  If  any  brother  hath  a  wife  that  believeth  not,  and 
she  be  pleased  to  dwell  with  him,  let  him  not  put  her  away  :"11  &c.     The  de- 

•  1  Cor.  vii.  6.  t  Ver.  10,  11,  12.  t  Ver.  25.  §  Ver.  40. 

II  Parrj  on  the  Inspiration  of  the  Apostles,  &c.  opud  Home,  vol.  i.  p.  SCo. 
V  Ver.  12  to  16. 


NO.   ir.  APPENDIX.  XXIX 

cision  is  vvortliy  of  a  judgment  cnliirhtL'ni'cl,  as  tlic  Apostle  afTirnis  of  lii*;,  by 
"  the  Spirit  of  God  :"'  again  then  we  ask,  What  is  that  command nieiit  of  the 
Lord  which  he  considers  so  superior  ?  Evidently,  it  is  the  express  decision  of 
the  Lord  himself,  pronounced  wiiile  in  the  world,  and  recorded  in  the  books 
of  plenary  inspiration  :  and  we  find  the  very  commandment  which  Paul  says 
is  not  his  but  the  Lord's  in  Matt.  xix.  9,  Mark  x.  11, 12,  and  Luke  xvi.  8  :  and 
the  first  Gospel  was  certainly  written,  and  the  others  ver)'  probably,  before 
this  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  :  But  if  it  can  be  proved  that  he  had  not  hsirii- 
ed  the  fact  in  this  way,  then  it  will  follow,  that,  as  he  seems  to  intimate  in 
Gal.  i.  12,  he  had  received  by  immediate  revelation  a  knowledge  o?  the  chief 
passages  of  the  Lord's  life  and  discourses  in  the  world  :  and  this  may  afford 
countenance  to  the  opinion  which  many  have  entertained,  that  he  was  the 
real  author  of  the  third  of  the  Gospels,  and  that  it  was  only  written  by  Ijuke 
as  his  amanuensis.  However  he  became  acquainted  with  it,  certain  it  is  that 
he  knew  that  the  Lord  had  delivered  such  a  commandment,  and  that  he 
speaks  of  this  as  a  different  thing  from  his  own  customary  and  personal  in.<!pi- 
ration.  Just  in  the  same  manner  he  distinguishes,  on  other  occasions,  be- 
tween his  own  sentiments  and  the  authoritative  declarations  of  the  Scrijituics 
themselves  ;  as  when  he  says  in  the  next  chapter  but  one,  '•  Say  I  these 
things  as  a  man  ?  or  saith  not  the  Laic  the  same  also  .'"*  and  quotes  a  passage 
from  Deuteronomy.  Plainly  then  does  this  Apostle  avow,  what  Peter  affirms 
of  him,  that  he  wrote  according'  to  the  wisdom  given  unto  him;  and  fairly 
does  he  acknowledge  that  this  inspiration  is  different  from  that,  the  subjects  of 
which  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Altogether  it  appears  perfoctlyevident,  that  the  Epistles  arc  doctrinal  writ- 
ings, given  through  eminently  illimiinated  men,  to  afibrd  a  clew  to  the  doc- 
trinal interpretation  of  the  plenarily  inspired  Scriptures  ;  respecting  whi'Mi 
they  testify,  among  other  things,  that  they  are  written  by  a  more  immediate 
inspiration,  and,  differently  from  themselves,  contain  a  spiritual  sense  within 
the  covering  of  ihe  Letter  ;  some  of  their  testimony  to  which  effect  is  given 
in  our  second  Lecture. t 

Without  the  slightest  wish  then  to  depreciate  either  the  Apostolic  writings 
or  the  Hugiographa  of  the  Old  Testament,  it  must,  we  think,  be  conceded, 
that  the  Gospels  and  Apocalypse,  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  arc  compositions 
of  a  very  different  order.  All  that  is  said,  by  modern  definers  of  Inspiration, 
of  the  sacred  books  in  general,  we  readily  concede  to  be  true  of  the  writings 
which  we  have  now  been  considering  :  these  we  leave  where  tlie  critics  have 
placed  them  :  but  we  would  fain  elevate  the  others  far  higher.  Respecting 
the  character  of  the  Apostolic  writings  in  particular,  I  fully  accept  the  defini- 
tions of  the  generally  approved  Aullior  last  quoted  :  "  Wlien  they  acted  as 
writers,  recording  Ciiristianity  ftir  the  instruction  of  the  church  in  all  sncceed- 
ing  times,  I  apprehend,  that  they  were  under  the  guidance  of  tlie  Sj)irit  as  to 

»  Ch.  is.  8.  +  P.  38,  &c.  and  p.  53  to  (JI. 


XXX  APPENDIX.  NO.   III. 

the  subject  of  which  they  treated  ;  that  they  wrote  under  his  influence  and 
direction  ;  that  they  were  preserved  from  all  error  and  mistake  in  the  religious 
sentiments  they  expressed  ;  and  that,  if  any  thing  were  inserted  in  their 
writings,  not  contained  in  that  complete  knowledge  of  Christianity  of  which 
they  were  previously  possessed,  (as  prophecies  for  instance,)  this  was  imme- 
diately communicated  to  them  by  revelation  from  the  Spirit.  But  with  respect 
to  the  choice  of  words,  I  know  not  but  they  might  be  left," — says  our  author, 
who  might  safely  have  omitted  the  words  of  hesitation, — "  to  the  free  and 
rational  exercise  of  their  own  minds,  to  express  themselves  in  the  manner  that 
was  natural  and  familiar  to  them,  while  at  the  same  time  they  were  preserved 
from  error  in  the  ideas  they  conveyed."*  All  this  is  true  :  but  it  is  greatly  to 
be  lamented,  that  what  is  true  of  a  part  of  the  writings  contained  in  the 
Bible,-^of  the  hagiographical  compositions,  only, — should  inadvertently  have 
been  extended  to  the  whole.  As  it  is  obvious  to  every  student  and  believer 
of  the  Bible  that  some  of  its  writers  were  under  the  influence  of  a'seconds^ry 
and  personal  inspiration,  it  has  been  concluded  that  this  was  the  case  with 
thein  all  :  and  as  it  is  evident  that  writings  thus  produced  can  have  none  but 
tiie  plain  grammatical  sense  ;  whilst  the  radical  difference  between  composi- 
tions of  this  character  and  those  which  are  the  result  of  an  immediate  divine 
afflatus  has  been  overlooked  ;  many  have  at  length  concluded,  that  there  is  no 
real  sense  but  the  grammatical  one  throughout  the  Word  of  God. 


No.  III.  (Page  178.) 


The  great  Objects  and  PhjI:nomena  of  the  Mundane  System  consider- 
ed, AS  they  are  referred  to  in  the  Language  of  Prophecy  and  of 
THE  Scriptures  in  general.  ' 

The  significations  by  Analogy  offered  in  the  Lecture,  of  the  great  objects  of 
what  Sir  Isaac  Newton  calls  "  the  world  natural ;" — of  heaven,  earth,  and 
earthquakes;  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  ;  and  of  the  darkening  of  the  sun, 
turning  of  the  moon  into  blood,  and  falling  of  the  stars ;  must,  it  is  presumed, 
be  readily  perceived  to  be  well  founded.  Not  much  argument  then  will  be  re- 
quired to  establish  them.  It  may,  however,  be  useful  to  add  a  few  remarks  upon 
them,  and  to  shew,  by  some  examples,  that  such  is  actually  the  meaning  borne 
by  these  magnificent  symbols  in  the  language  of  prophecy,  and  of  the  Holy 
Word  in  general. 

I.  When  the  earth  or  world,  in  a  most  general  sense,   including  the  whole 
"  world  natural,"    is  mentioned  in    Scripture    for   tiie   church  universal, — the 

*  Parry  apud  Home,  vol.  i.  p.  56L 


NO.   III.  APPENDIX.  XXXI 

church  considered  in  the  most  general  manner  ;  it  is  only  by  a  moditicatioii  of 
a  mode  of  expression  frequent  in  common  discourse.  We  constantly  speak  of 
various  countries,  not  with  any  allusion  to  the  mere  soil,  but  as  a  metonymy 
for  the  nations  that  inhabit  them, — for  the  government  and  people.  It  is  in 
this  sense  that  we  speak  of  the  distress  or  prosperity  of  our  own  country  ;  of 
the  policy  of  France,  Austria,  or  Russia;  of  the  general  aspect  of  the  conti- 
nent;  and  of  tiie  growing  power  of  America,  or  of  the  new  world.  Just  so  it  is 
when  particular  countries,  or  when  the  earth  in  general,  are  mentioned  in  the 
Word  of  God:  the  continent  is  put  for  the  contents;  the  land  tor  the  inhabi- 
tants. This  then  seems  to  support  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  application  of  "  the 
world  natural"  to  "the  world  politic."  But  we  are  to  remember,  that,  in  the 
Word  of  God,  he  who  uses  the  figure  is  the  Divine  Being  himself:  and  in  what 
respect  can  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  be  supposed  to  be  regarded  by  the 
Divine  Mind,  but  as  to  their  reception  or  otherwise  of  the  principles  which 
constitute  the  church  ?  It  is  not,  we  may  be  certain,  as  to  their  political,  but  as 
to  their  spiritual  relations,  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  world  are  regarded  by 
God.  They  are  considered  as  belonging  either  to  the  church  properly  so  call- 
ed, consisting  of  that  portion  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  who  stand  in  a 
nearer  relation  to  the  Author  of  their  existence,  in  consequence  of  possessing  a 
knowledge  of  him  by  revelation  ; — or  to  the  church  universal,  which  includes 
the  whole  of  mankind  considered  in  their  relation  to  God.  As  then,  when  the 
earth  is  mentioned  in  Scripture,  the  inhabitants  of  it  are  meant ;  and  as  the  in- 
habitants are  only  regarded  in  their  relation  to  God,  that  is,  as  connected  with 
his  church  ;  it  is  perfectly  agreeable  to  the  use  of  a  well-known  figure  of  speech, 
to  name  the  earth  to  signify  the  church. 

It  is  also  well  known,  that  when  the  earth  is  mentioned,  it  is  frequently  only 
the  land  of  Canaan  that  is  referred  to  ;  and  this  is  an  acknowledged  symbol  of 
the  church  :  and  the  meaning  is  similar,  but  more  universal,  when  the  earth  is 
named  for  the  whole  "  world  natural." 

Now  that  this  use  of  the  term  is  frequent  with  the  prophets,  might  !)e  shewn 
by  numerous  examples.  Thus,  in  that  beautiful  prediction  so  evidently  rc^fer- 
ring  to  a  future  glorious  state  of  the  church,  when  it  is  declared  that  "  the  wolf 
shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,"  and  when  it  is  said  of  various  noxious  animals, 
"  they  shall  not  hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  my  holv  mountain  ;"  the  reason  as- 
signed for  it  is  this  ;  "  For  the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord, 
as  the  waters  cover  the  sea."*  So  in  that  awful  denunciation  of  judgments 
upon  the  earth,  in  the  twenty-fourth  chapter  of  the  same  prophet,  where  the 
word  earth  or  land  is  repeated  almost  in  every  verse  ;  although  some  of  the 
calamities  enumerated  might  seem  to  relate  to  the  earth,  literally,  yet  there  is 
much  which  shews  that  the  subject  really  treated  of  is  the  church.  To  what 
else  can  these  words  be  applied :  •  "  The  windows  from  on  high  are  open,  and 
the  foundations  of  the  earth  do  shako  :  the  earth  is  utterly  broken  down  ;  the 
earth  is  clean  dissolved  ;  the  earth  is  moved   exceedingly  :  the  earth  shall  reel 

*  Is.  xi.  9. 


XXXU  APPENDIX.  NO  III. 

to  and  fro  like  a  drunkard,  and  shall  be  removed  like  a  cottage ;  and  the  trans- 
gression thereof  shall  be  heavy  upon  it ;  and  it  shall  fall  and  not  rise  again"  ?* 
The  last  clause,  in  particular,  is  by  no  means  predicable  of  the  earth  ;  but  the 
whole  is  most  accurately  descriptive,  in  the  language  of  Analogy,  of  the  utter 
destruction  of  the  Jewish  church  :  and  to  this  alone,  and  to  the  substitution  of 
pure  Christianity  for  corrupt  Judaism,  can  be  applied  what  is  said  of  the  sun 
and  moon  at  the  conclusion  of  the  prophecy  :  "  Then  the  moon  shall  be  con- 
founded, and  the  sim  ashamed,  when  the  Lord  of  Hosts  shall  reign  in  Mount 
Zion,  and  in  Jerusalem,  and  before  his  ancients  gloriously."! 

II.  Without  then  further  extending  our  quotations,  it  must,  we  may  presume, 
be  readily  seen,  that  the  earth,  when  mentioned  generaUy,  is  used  as  a  symbol 
of  the  church.  But  heaven  is  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures  as  frequently  as  the 
earth;  and  it  often  happens,  that  lieaven  and  earth  are  mentioned  together: 
and  then  it  may  be  seen  with  equal  clearness,  that  by  heaven  is  meant  the  in- 
ternal of  the  church,  or,  with  respect  to  individuals,  the  internal  man,  and  by 
earth  the  external  of  the  church,  or  the  external  man. 

Two  states  of  the  church, — the  church  militant  and  the  church  triumphant, 
— are  usually  recognised  by  divines  ;  all  who  are  members  of  the  church  on 
earth  constituting  the  former,  and  all  who  are  enjoying  the  reward  of  victory 
in  heaven,  constituting  the  latter  :  thus  the  church  militant  is  that  which  is 
usually  called  simply  the  church,  and  the  church  triumphant  is  but  another 
name  for  heaven.  Now  it  is  certainly  a  very  remarkable  circumstance,  that  in 
so  many  languages  the  name  for  the  state  and  habitation  of  the  bhst  is  the 
same  as  that  for  the  visible  heavens  or  sky  ;  or  rather,  the  name  properly  be- 
longing to  the  latter  is  transferred  to  mean  the  former.  In  the  English  lan- 
guage indeed,  which  has  two  words  that  signify  the  expanse  above  or  around 
the  earth,  we  now  more  frequently  apply  the  term  heaven  to  the  seats  of  the 
blest,  and  the  term  shy  to  the  visible  firmament ;  though  we  still  frequently 
use  the  former  word  in  its  primitive  signification  : 

"  As  from  the  face  of  heaven  the  scattered  clouds 
Tumultuous  rove." 

and  we  are  apt  to  transfer  the  latter  to  the  figurative  sense  ;  thus,  the  soul 

"  Breathes  hopes  immortal,  and  affects  the  skies." 
Now  whence  came  this  application,  by  consent  of  nations,  of  the  name  of  the 
visible  heavens  to  express  the  invisible,  but  from  a  perception  that  they  pro- 
perly answer  to  each  other  by  analogy,  and  that  the  lower  heavens  are  a  pro- 
per type  and  symbol  of  the  higher .'  Hence  in  the  Word  of  God,  the  one  is 
constantly  described  by  thename  of  the  other. 

But  further  :  As,  in  addition  to  the  analogies  of  each  taken  separately,  there 
is  a  similar  relation  between  the  visible  heaven  and  earth  as  between  the 
heavenly  state,  or  the  church  in.  heaven,  and  the  church  on  earth  ;  ihereSove, 
also,  those  are  described  by  the  combined  phrase  heaven  and  earth  ;  As,  like- 

*  Ver.  18,  19,  20.  t  Ver.  23. 


NO.    HI.  APPENDIX.  XXXIU 

wise,  tliere  is  a  similar  relation  between  the  internal  principles  and  heavenly 
graces  constitiKuit  of  a  church  and  its  external  order,  profession  and  practiee; 
and  between  all  tliat  belongs  to  the  internal  man  and  all  that  belongs  to  the  ex- 
ternal ;  therefore  these,  also,  are  included  in  the  meaning  of  the  phrase  hea- 
ven and.  earth. 

Of  the  use  of  the  terms  in  these  significations,  abundant  instances  are  afforded 
by  the  Scriptures.  What  else  can  be  meant  by  these  images,  when  the  pro- 
phet says,  "  Drop  down,  ye  heavens,  from  above,  and  let  the  skies  pour  down 
righteousness  :  let  the  earth  open,  and  let  tliem  bring  forth  salvation,  and  let 
rigiiteousness  spring  up  together  ?"*  It  is  perfectly  evident  that  the  heavens 
and  shies  which  pour  down  risrhteousness,  and  the  earth  whicli  opens  to  receive 
it,  and  from  which,  in  return,  salvation  and  righteousness  spring  up,  cannot 
be  the  visible  heavens,  and  the  material  i;arth  :  neitlier  can  they  be  Sir  Isaac 
Newton's  "  thrones  and  dignities"  and  "  the  inferior  people  :"  but  they  must 
be  the  heavens  the  abodes  of  bliss,  and  the  church  rendered  fruitful  in  good 
works  by  the  divine  influences  thence  descending  :  and  the  same  language 
may  be  applied  to  the  two  principles  of  the  human  constitution  recognised  in 
theology  by  the  names  of  the  internal  and  external  man.  So  when  Jehovah, 
in  reference  to  the  establishment  of  the  Christian  dispensation,  speaks  of  hea- 
ven and  earth  as  being  then  to  be  created,  and  says,  "  I  have  put  my  words  in 
thy  mouth,  and  I  have  covered  thee  in  the  shadow  of  m}'  hand,  that  I  nmy 
plant  the  heavens,  and  lay  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  and  say  unto  Zion, 
Thou  art  my  people  :"t  and  when  he  says  again,  "  Behold,  I  create  new  hea- 
vens and  a  new  earth,  and  the  former  shall  not  be  remembered  nor  come  into 
mind  :  but  be  ye  glad  and  rejoice  for  ever  in  that  which  I  create  ;  for,  behold, 
I  create  Jerusalem  a  rejoicing,  and  her  people  a  joy  :"|  who  can  fail  to  see, 
that  the  heavens,  and  new  heavens,  here  spoken  of,  are  the  internal  principles 
of  the  Christian  church,  and  the  earth,  and  neto  earth,  her  corresponding  ex- 
ternal ?  whence  they  are  in  both  cases  mentioned  in  connexion  with  Zion  and 
Jerusalem,  the  acknowledged  types  of  the  church  ;  and  the  creating  of  new 
heavens  and  a  new  earth  is  actually  spoken  of  as  synonymous  with  creating 
Jerusalem  a  rejoicing  and  her  people  a  joy.  Equally  easy  will  be  the  inter- 
pretation of  these  symbols,  drdlwn  from  '■  the  world  natural,"  wherever  they 
occur  in  the  sacred  writings ;  understand  by  heaocyi,  in  relation  to  the  church, 
or  to  the  man  of  the  church,  the  internal  essence,  and  by  the  earth  the  external 
form,  and  you  will  obtain  a  satisfactor}'  and  coherent  meaning  for  every  pas- 
sage in  which  they  are  mentioned  throughout  the  Word  of  God. 

III.  If  it  be  admitted  that  the  earth  signifies  the  external  of  the  church  and 
of  man,  it  will  easily  be  admitted  that  the  loicest  parts  of  the  earth,  with  Hades 
or  Hell,  will  signify  the  external  man  when  entirely  separated  from  the  inter- 
nal, so  as  to  be  the  mere  abode  of  infernal  lusts  and  insane  follies ;  with  the 
state  of  misery  consequent  thereupon  hereafter  : — and  also,  that  it  may  some- 
times signify  a  state  of  temptation,  because  then  man  appears  to  himself  to  be 

*  Isa.  xlv.  8.  t  Isa.  U.  16.  %  Ch.  Ixv.  17,  18. 

E 


IXXIV  APPENDIX.  NO  III. 

in  danger  of  such  a  condition.  In  the  former  sense  of  the  phrase,  the  Psahn- 
ist  says.  "  But  those  that  seek  my  soul  to  destroy  it,  shall  go  into  the  lower 
parts  of  the  earth.''*  On  account,  also,  of  the  manifest  analogy,  the  term 
Hades  or  Hell,  though  originally  signifying  merely  a  subterraneous  region,  has 
been  transferred  to  denote,  in  common  use,  the  state  and  place  of  misery  here- 
after ;  just  as  heaven,  though  originally  signifying  the  visible  firmament,  has 
come  to  be  regarded  as  the  proper  name  of  the  state  and  place  of  eternal  bless- 
edness. But  that  sometimes  the  term  is  used  for  a  state  of  extreme  temptation, 
appears  from  the  prayer  of  Jonah,  all  whose  adventure  with  the  fish  was  re- 
presentative of  such  a  state,  and  who  says  respecting  it,  "  Out  of  the  belly  of 
hell  cried  I,  and  thou  heardest  my  voice."t 

IV.  From  the  signification  of  the  earth,  and  of  heaven  and  earth,  as  expres- 
sive of  the  church,  it  necessarily  follows,  that  great  earthquakes,  and  the  shak- 
ing of  heaven  and  earth,  are  put  for  the  shaking  of  churches,  so  as  to  distract 
and  overthrow  them,  or  at  least  to  occasion  a  remarkable  change  in  their  state. 
Thus  in  the  passage  quoted  above  from  the  twenty -fourth  of  Isaiah,  in  which 
the  earth  so  evidentfy  signifies  the  church,  it  is  said  of  it  that  its  "  foundations 
shake,"  and  that  it  shall  "  reel  to  and  fro,  like  a  drunkard."  As  no  change  in 
the  state  of  the  church  ever  occurred  so  great  as  that  consequent  upon  the 
Lord's  coming  into  the  world  ;  therefore,  in  reference  to  that  event,  it  is  writ- 
ten, "  For  thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts :  Yet  once,  it  is  a  little  while,  and  I  will 
shake  the  heavens,  and  the  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  the  dry  land;  and  I  will 
shake  all  nations  ;  and  the  Desire  of  all  nations  shall  come."t  Soj  that  a  change 
in  the  constitution  of  the  church  not  less  extraordinary  was  once  again  to  be 
experienced,  seems  to  be  intimated  by  the  Revelator  ;  when,  after  he  heard 
"  a  great  voice  out  of  the  temple  of  heaven,  from  the  throne,  saying,  It  ia 
done,"  he  adds,  "  And  there  were  voices  and  thunders,  and  lightnings  :  and 
there  was  a  great  earthquake,  such  as  was  not  since  men  were  upon  the  earth, 
so  mighty  an  earthquake  and  so  great  "^  a  most  significant  emblem,  surely, 
of  such  a  change  as  must  attend  such  a  consummation  as  alone  is  worthy  to  be 
indicated  by  the  emphatic  words  heard  from  the  throne  of  God,  "  It  is  done  !" 

V.  We  have  considered  already  the  signification  of  the  creating  of  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth,  and,  by  consequence*  of  "  the  passing  of  an  old  one, 
or  of  the  beginning  and  end  (or  rather  end  and  beginning)  of  a  world."  If,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  new  heaven  and  new  earth  predicted  by  Isaiah  describe  the 
Christian  church,  which  was  to  be  a  new  dispensation  both  as  to  inward  es- 
sence and  outward  form,  of  course,  the  former  heaven  and  earth,  which,  it  is 
declared,  should  no  more  be  remembered  nor  come  into  mind,  must  be  the 
corrupt  interval  and  ceremonial  external  of  the  Jewish  church  :  and,  as  the 
Word  of  God  must  ever  be  consistent  with  itself,  similar  must  be  the  import  ot 
these  portentous  symbols  wherever  they  occur  in  its  pages.  Certain  it  is  that 
this  interpretation  of  them  will  every  where  yield  a  good  and  coherent  sense. 

VI.  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  though  he  interprets  the  su7i  of  "  the  whole  species 
and  I'ace  of  kings,"  yet  allows  it  occasionally  to   be  Christ :  and  that  it  is  a 


*  Ps.  Ixiiu  9.         +  Ch.  ii.  2.         t  Hag.  ii.  6.  7.         §  Rev.  .xvi.  17,  18. 


NO.   III.  APPENDIX.  XXrT 

striking  representative  of  the  Divine  Being  is  testified  by  the  consent  of  the 
numerous  nations  who  have  worshipped  him  under  this  image.  Accordingly, 
tlie  Psalmist  affirms  that  "  the  Lord  God  is  a  sun  :"*  so,  Isaiah  says  of  the  re- 
stored church,  •'  Thy  sun  shall  no  more  go  down,  neither  shall  thy  moon  with- 
draw itself ;  for  the  Lord  sh-dW  he  thine  everlasting  light -."t  and  by  Malachi, 
still  more  directly,  the  Lord  declares,  "  But  unto  you  that  fear  my  name  shall 
the  Sun  of  Righteousness  arise  with  healing  in  his  wings. "t  Indeed,  the  ana- 
logy between  the  Lord  as  the  source  of  life  to  all  creation  ; — of  spiritual  life, 
which  consists  in  love  and  wisdom,  immediately,  to  all  intelligent  creatures, — 
and  of  natural  life,  mediately,  to  inanimate  and  irrational  subjects  ; — and  the 
sun  as  his  vicegerent  for  the  conununication  of  its  life  to  mere  matter,  by  dis- 
pensing its  beams  of  natural  heat  and  light  to  this  nether  world  ;  is  too  obvious 
to  escape  the  attention  of  any  one.  The  analogy  between  the  heat  of  the  so- 
lar beams  and  the  ardour  of  divine  love,  between  the  lucidity  of  the  sun's  rays 
and  the  illuminating  efficacy  of  divine  wisdom,  are  also  most  striking.  It  has 
been  shewn  in  the  third  Lecture, §  that  there  is  an  obvious  and  fixed  relation 
between^re  and  love,  between  light  and  truth  ;  and  this  must  eminently  hold 
between  the  solar  fire  and  light,  and  the  love  and  wisdom  of  the  Lord.  The 
sun  also,  as  the  secondary  source  of  existence  to  its  dependent  worlds,  cannot 
but,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  image  forth  in  its  properties  the  First  Cause 
of  existence,  the  Creator  of  itself  and  of  all  things.  It  cannot  then  be  doubted, 
that  in  writings  composed  upon  the  principles  of  Analogy,  the  sun  would  often 
bo  taken  as  a  symbol  of  the  Lord ;  as  we  see  is  done  in  the  passages  above 
quoted. 

But  it  is  not  so  much  of  the  Divine  Being,  personally,  that  the  sun  is  taken 
as  an  emblem  in  the  Scriptures,  as  of  the  first  essential  property  of  the  Divine 
Nature,  which  is  the  divine  love  ;  whence  it  is  often  coupled  with  the  moon, 
and  it  is  even  said,  as  in  the  passage  just  cited  from  Isaiah,  that  the  Lord  will 
be  both  a  sun  and  moon  to  his  people  ;  for  the  moon,  as  shining  by  a  borrowed 
light,  is  the  apt  symbol  of  the  principle  of  faith,  which  is  produced  in  the  mind 
by  instruction  in  divine  subjects  outwardly  communicated.  There  is  also  a 
distinction  made  in  the  Scriptures  between  the  light  of  the  moon,  and  the  light 
of  the  sun.  The  light  of  the  sun  is  a  perception  of  divine  truth  grounded  in 
love  :  it  is  that  which  is  experienced  by  those  whom  the  Lord  calls  his  friends, 
or,  as  the  original  more  strongly  says,  his  lovers,  and  who  become  such  by 
doing  ichatsoever  he  commands  them  ;||  and  of  which  he  declares,  th^t  it  consists 
in  a  knowledge,  communicated  by  him,  of  all  things  that  he  hath  heard  from 
his  Father  .-H  but  the  light  of  the  moon  is  that  of  those  whom  the  Lord  calls 
servants,  whose  faith,  being  not  so  much  founded  in  love,  is  not  attended  with 
so  clear  an  illumination  of  the  understanding  ;  whence  the  same  Authority 
says,  that  the  servant  knoiccth  not  what  his  lord  doeth.**  Hence  the  one  state 
is  called  in  the  Scriptures  a  state  of  day  ;  the  other,  respectively,  a  state  of 
night, — not  of  a  dark  night,  but  of  a  night  irradiated  bv  the  light  of  the  moon  : 

*  Ps.  Ixx.tiv.  11.       t  Ch.  1j.  20.       i  Ch.  iv.  2.        §  Page  120.        |j  John  xy.  14. 
IT  Ver.  15.  **  Ibid. 


XXXVl  APPENDIX.  NO.  III. 

thus  we  are  called  upon  to  praise  "  him  that  made  great  lights  ; — the  sun  to 
rule  by  day, — the  moon  and  stars  to  rule  by  night."* 

The  stars,  as  noticed  in  the  third  Lecture,t  are  apt  images  of  heavenly 
truths,  or  of  specific  matters  of  knowledge  on  spiritual  subjects. 

That  such  is  the  signification,  in  Scripture,  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  may 
sufficiently  appear  from  this  circumstance  alone.     John  the  Revelator  beheld 
"  a  woman  clothed  with  the  siin,  and  the  moon  under  her  feet,  and  upon  her 
head  a  crown  of  twelve  stars."t     Now  this  woman  is  evidently  the  same  as 
is  elsewhere  called  "  the  bride,  the  Lamb's  wife  ;"§    that  is,  she  is  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  true  church  ;  wherefore  also  she  is  a  personification  of  the  new 
Jerusalem.\\     The  sun  with  which  she  appeared  clothed,  is  a  plain  image  of 
the  divine  love  by  which  the  true  church  is  animated,  encompassed,  and  pro- 
tected.    The  moon  under  her  feet,  foi-ming  as  it  were  her  footstool,  is  a  suita- 
ble image  of  that  true  faith  upon  which  the  church  is  represented  in  Scripture 
as  founded  :  thus  when  Peter  avowed  his  faith  in  the  Son  of  God,  the  Divine 
Person  who  was  the  object  of  his  belief  said,  "  Upon  this  rock," — the  great 
doctrine  of  faith  just  acknowledged, — "  wdll  I  build    my   church. "IT     Because 
then  the  church  is  built  upon  a  true  faith  in  the  Lord,  her  personified  emblem 
was  seen  standing  upon  the  moon,  which  is  the  symbol  of  such  a  fiiith.     The 
crown  of  twelve  stars  upon  her  head,  was  expressive  of  the  wisdom  which  re- 
sults from  the  possession  of  all  the  truths  of  the  Word  ;  for  the  number  tioelve 
is  always  mentioned  as  implying  all  the  truths  of  the  Word  and  of  the  church, 
both  those  relating  to  faith  and  those  relating  to  charity  ;  which  is  the  reason 
that  there  were  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  twelve  apostles,  that  the  new  Jerusalem 
had  ttoelve  foundations,  and  that  this  number,  with  its  multiples,  a  hundred 
and  forty-four,  and  twelve  thousand  and  a  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand,  is 
used  on  so  very  many  occasions.     The  signification  of  this  number,  however, 
not  being  requisite  to  the  present  inquiry,  we  will  not  turn  aside  to  consider  it. 
But  the  sun  and  moon  are  sometimes  mentioned,  not  as  images  of  the  Lord's 
divine  love,  and  of  a  true  faith,  but  of  principles  diametrically  opposite  ;  which 
is  the  reason  why  the  light  of  the  sun  and  moon  is  sometimes  put  in  contrast 
with  that  of  which  the  Lord  is  the  author  ;  as  in  the  passage  of  which  a  part  was 
before  quoted  from  Isaiah :  "  The  sun  shall  no  more  be  thy  light  by  day,  nei- 
ther for  brightness  shall  the  7noon  give  light  unto  thee  ;  but  the  Lord  shall  be 
unto  thee  an  everlasting  light,  and  thy  God  th}^  glory."**  Still  they  retain  their 
general  signification  of  love  and  faith,  but  denote  different  species  of  them  : 
the  sun  is  then  that  self-love  which  rules  with  those  who  reject  the  love  of 
God,  and  the  moon  is  that  tissue  of  human  inventions,  which,  in  such  a  state, 
men  miscall  faith.     In  this  sense  they  are  spoken  of  as  shedding  evil  influ- 
ences, from  which  the  objects  of  divine  protection  are  to  be  secured  :  "  The 
sun  shall  not  smite  thee  by  day,  nor  the  vioon  by  night  :"tt — "  They  shall  hun- 
ger no  more,  neither  thirst  any  more  ;  neither  shall  the  sun  light  on  them,  nor 
any  heat."t}: 

*  Ps.  cxxxvi.  7,  8,  9.  t  P-  136.         X  RcT.  xii.   i.  §  Ch.  xxi.  9,  Ch.  xix.  7. 

II    Ch.  xxi.  2.  ir  Matt.  xvi.  IS.  **  Ch.   Ix.    19.      See  also  Rev.  xxi.  23. 

tt  Ps-  cxxvi.  6.  \X  Rev-  vii.  16. 


NO.   III.  APPENDIX.  XXXvii 

VII.  The  signification  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  in  Scripture,  and  the 
ffround  of  that  signification  in  tfiat  positive  Analogy  wliich  forms  part  of  the 
laws  of  nature,  must  now,  we  would  fain  hope,  appear  very  certain  :  and  if  so, 
the  signification  of  the  darkening  of  the  sun,  turning  of  the  moon  into  blood, 
and  fulling  of  the  stars,  must  also  be  evident,  and  they  must  be  seen  to  de- 
note the  ceasing  in  the  professing  church,  or  the  perversion  into  their  oppo- 
sitfs,  of  pure  love  to  the  Lord,  true  faith  in  him,  and  all  just  knowledge  of 
spiritual  subjects.  Thus  we  read  in  Joel,  "  I  will  shew  wonders  in  the  hea- 
vens and  in  the  earth,  blood,  fire,  and  pillars  of  smoke  :  the  sun  shall  be  turned 
into  darkness,  and  the  moon  into  blood,  before  the  great  and  the  terrible  day 
of  the  Lord  come."*  When  was  this  prophecy  fulfilled  ?  Peter,  at  the  first 
effusion  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  after  the  Lord's  ascension,  afliruis  that  it  was  ac- 
complished then.\  But  what  sun  wjis  then  darkened,  but  the  sun  of  love  in 
the  Jewish  church  ;  when  a  Divine  Teacher  said  of  them,  "  I  know  you,  that 
ye  have  not  the  love  of  God  in  you  ;"t  "  and  this  is  the  condemnation  ;  that 
light  is  come  into  the  world,  and  men  loved  darkness  rather  than  light,  he- 
CAUse  their  deeds  were  evil." \  And  what  moon  was  then  turned  into  blood, 
but  the  moon  of  true  faith  ;  when  even  the  books  of  Moses  were  not  believed 
b)'  them  in  any  beneficial  manner ;  whence  the  same  infallible  Authority  says 
of  them,  "  Had  ye  believed  Moses,  ye  would  have  believed  me  ;  for  he  wrote 
of  me  :  but  if  ye  believe  not  his  writings,  how  shall  ye  believe  my  words  ;"|| 
and  they  are  further  reproached,  not  only  for  departing  from  all  true  faith^ 
but  for  setting  up  a  false  one  in  its  place,  "  teaching  for  doctrines  the  com- 
mandments  of  7nc/j."1T  So,  when  it  is  said  that  the  tail  of  the  dragon  "  drew 
the  third  part  of  the  stars  of  heaven  and  cast  them  to  the  earth,"**  how  strik- 
ing an  image  is  presented  of  the  influence  exercised  by  the  evil  upon  the  pure 
truths  of  heaven,  which  are  deprived,  by  low  interpretations,  of  their  heavenly 
nature,  and  reduced  to  matters  of  common,  earth-born  knoicltdge. 

We  will  conclude  with  a  word'  respecting  the  application  of  these  grand 
symbols  to  the  downfal  of  particular  nations  ;  as  of  Babylon, It  of  Iduviia;a,}t 
and  of  Egypt. §  §  In  the  truly  spiritual  sense,  the  signification  will  still  be  the 
same  ;  only  then  the  nations  also  must  be  spiritually  understood,  as  repres<'n- 
tative  of  some  general  principle,  or  class  of  persons,  connected  with  the 
church.  Even  in  reference  to  the  actual  downfal  of  those  states,  as  kingdoms 
of  the  "  world  politic,"  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  shew  that  the  sun  is  the 
king,  the  moon  the  people,' and  the  stars  the  great  men;  beside  that  they  are 
thus  reduced  into  tautological  repetitions,  the  heavens  and  earth  having  before 
been  explained,  by  Sir  Isaac,  to  signify  princes  and  people.  Even  then  wilh 
regard  to  "  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  politic,"  it  would  afford  better  sense  to 
interpret  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  to  be  those  principles  in  the  state,  which 
love  and  faith,  with  divine  knowledge,  are  in  the  church  ;  and  these  will  be, 


*  Ch.  ii.  SO,  3L         t  See  Acts  ii.  16  to  20.  t  John  v.  42.  §  Ch.  iii.  1.9. 

II  Ch.  V.  46,  47.  IT  Mark  vii.  7.  **  Rev.  xii.  3.  +t  Isa.  .xiii.  10. 

it  Ch.  .\xxiv.  4.  §§  Ezek.  xx.xii.  7. 


XXXviii  APPENDIX.  NO.   IV. 

justice  and  judgment,  civil  good  and  political  wisdom,  national  integrity  and 
sound  maxims  of  state  ;  without  the  cultivation  of  an  adequate  share  of 
which,  the  mightiest  empires  hasten  to  dissolution. 

But  all  applications  of  such  symbols  to  natural  objects  or  political  affairs  are 
attended  with  great  uncertainty,  and  it  can  seldom  be  shewn  that,  with  respect 
to  these,  they  have  a  determinate  signification  :  because  these  were  not  the 
things  regarded  in  the  Divine  Mind,  from  which  the  Word  proceeded.  In 
"ivino-  a  revelation,  its  Divine  Author  must  have  had  eternal  ends  and  spiritual 
objects  in  view  :  and  if  we  explain,  of  spiritual  objects,  the  natural  images 
employed  in  the  divine  style  of  writing,  we  may  always,  if  we  possess  the 
proper  key,  obtain  a  meaning  which  is  clear  and  satisfactory  ;  because  be- 
tween all  natural  objects  and  certain  spiritual  ones  there  exists  by  creation  a 
fixed  analogy,  which  may  readily  be  traced,  when  we  are  sufficiently  acquaint- 
ed with  the  properties  of  each.  How  far  this  has  been  accomplished  in  thia 
essay,  in  regard  to  the  great  objects  and  phsenomena  of  the  mundane  system, 
it  must  be  left  to  the  reader  to  determine. 


No.  IV.  (Page  248.) 


The  Signification    of    the    Clouds,    when    mentioned    in    Scripture, 
further  illustrated. 

The  explanations  of  Scripture  terms  which  are  offered  in  tliis  Work,  being 
new  to  most  of  our  readers,  would  require,  to  do  thein  justice,  a  more  extend- 
ed elucidation  and  defence  than  our  limits  will  permit  :  However,  if  only  one 
explanation,  clearly  drawn  from  a  fixed  analogy,  is  fimily  established,  it  is 
sufficient  to  evince  the  solidity  of  the  principle  as  a  Rule  of  interpretation. 
We  have  dwelt  at  some  length,  in  the  Lecture  above,  on  the  signification  of 
clouds,  and  have  shewn,  it  is  hoped,  with  some  weight  of  evidence,  that, 
when  mentioned  in  reference  to  the  Lord,  they  signify  the  Divine  Truth 
clothed  with  natural  ideas  and  images,  or  the  Word  in  its  literal  sense,  which 
is  the  Divine  Truth  so  clothed  :  and  as  this  explanation,  though,  when  first 
propounded,  it  may  appear  unexpected  and  forced,  seems  to  become,  on  re- 
flection, perfectly  natural  and  easy,  and  to  be  capable  of  being  established 
with  a  certainty  which  nothing  but  the  extreme  of  scepticism  can  dispute  ; 
we  will  here  dwell  upon  it  a  little  further,  and  try  what  degree  of  light  may 
be  drawn,  by  its  aid,  from  several  obscure  and  obviously  enigmatical  passages 
of  the  Holy  Word.  We  have  selected  this  term  for  a^ ^tailed  examination, 
not  only  because  it  is  well  calculated  to  illustrate  what  we  have  called  the 
Science  of  Analogies,  and  to  prove  that  in  that  Science  must  be  snught  the 
key  for  the  true  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  but   becniisc   it  is    also    emi- 


NO.   IV.  APPENDIX.  XXXIX 

nently  adapted  to  throw  light  upon  the  nature  of  the  Scriptures  themselves,—;- 
to  evince  that  they  consist  of  a  glory  and  its  covering,  and  to  demonstrate 
that  their  literal  sense  is  actually  a  cloud  which  veils  over  the  supernal  light 
that  beams  within. 

I  hope,  however,  that  whoever  reads  this  article,  will  first  read  the  part  o 
the  Lecture  to  which  it  is  appended  ;  (from  p.  240.) 

I.  It  has  been  remarked  above,  that  the  signification  of  clouds,  as  being  the 
Divine  Truth  veiled  over  with  the  appearances  of  nature,  or  the  Word  in  its 
literal  sense,  may,  when  first  announced,  appear  arbitrary  and  forced  :  yet  if 
it  thus  appears  to  any  one,  it  must  be  for  want  of  his  having  noticed,  that  this 
is  one  of  the  analogies  of  which  every  one  knows  something  by  common  per- 
ception, and  from  which  phrases  are  frequently  borrowed  in  common  dis- 
course. I  hope,  for  instance,  that  what  I  am  now  writing  will  not  be  deemed 
a  cloudy  composition ;  for  I  well  know  how  common  it  is  with  writers  to 
cloud  a  clear  subject  by  imperfect  attempts  at  explanation.  There  are  many 
things  respecting  which  the  truth  discovers  itself  to  the  mind  by  its  own  in- 
herent light,  and  which  efforts  to  illustrate  only  envelope  in  clouds.  Such 
phrases  as  these,  of  which  every  one  immediately  sees  the  meaning,  and 
which  every  one  readily  frames  for  himself,  evince  that  the  human  mind  intui- 
tively perceives,  not  only  the  analogy  between  light  and  Truth  in  its  clearness, 
but  also  that  between  clouds  and  Truth  in  the  shade.  It  is  only  then  in  com- 
pliance with  a  principle  which  nature  dictates  to  us  all,  that  clouds  are  men- 
tioned in  Scripture  as  the  chariot  of  God  :  for  God,  all  knowledge,  must 
dwell  in  his  own  Divine  Truth,  and  of  Divine  Truth,  when  shaded  over  with 
natural  images  and  expressions  borrowed  from  human  ideas,  as  in  the  literal 
sense  of  the  Divine  Word,  clouds  are  evidently  the  proper  symbol. 

II.  It  being  certain  then  that  reason  gives  a  decided  testimony  in  favour  of 
the  use  of  the  term  clouds  as  an  appropriate  emblem  of  the  Woid  of  God  in 
its  literal  sense,  we  proceed  to  consider  further,  how  this  is  corroborated  by 
the  instances  in  which  the  expression  is  used  in  the  Scriptures  in  connexion 
with  the  Lord. 

1.  We  have  cited  in  the  Lecture  this  passage  of  Moses  :  "  There  is  none 
like  unto  the  God  of  Jeshurun,  who  rideth  upon  the  heaven  in  thy  help,  and 
in  his  excellency  in  the  s/.-j/ ;"*  where  we  have  noted,  that  the  word  translat- 
ed sky  is  one  which  in  many  other  places  is  rendered  the  clouds.  Jeshurun  is 
a  name  for  Israel,  which  typically  means  the  church,  or  the  true  member  of 
the  church  :  and  how  is  it  that,  in  help  of  the  member  of  the  church, 
God  rides  in  heaven,  and  in  his  excellency  (greatness  or  strength)  in 
the  clouds  ?  how,  unless  these  phrases  mean,  that  he  imparts  to  man  in- 
struction, consolation,  and  support,  by  the  internal  graces  of  his  \^'ord  and 
kingdom,  signified  bv  heuvcn,  communicated  by  means  of  the  external  or 
literal  sense  of  his  Word,  signified  by  the  clouds  ?  The  reason  of  this  is, 
because   it   is   a  fact,  though  not  always  reflected  on  and  acknowledged,  that 

*  Dent,  x.xxiij. 


Xl  APPENDIX.  NO.   IV. 

jvhatever  man  receives  to  build  him  up  as  a  member  of  the  Lord's  church,  he 
receives,  either  immediately  or  remotely,  by  the  medium  of  the  Holy  Word  : 
it  is  hence  that  he  obtains  all  his  knowledge  respecting  the  Lord  and  his  king- 
dom, either  drawing  it  thence  himself  or  receiving  it  from  others  who  have 
drawn  it  from  that  source  :  it  is  by  the  truths  thus  acquired  that  he  directs  his 
path  :  it  is  the  promises  which  he  hence  learns  that  support  him  and  enable 
him  to  resist  his  spiritual  foes :  and  it  is  even  by  what  he  thus  imbibes  that  the 
graces  of  charity,  as  well  as  those  of  faith,  are  infused  into  his  bosom.  For 
the  Holy  Word,  though  a  system  of  Divine  Truth,  is  not  a  system  of  truth 
alone.  Every  truth  which  it  contains  has  some  heavenly  affection  that  pro- 
perly belongs  to  it.  When  the  truth  is  admitted  into  the  understanding  mere- 
ly, still  the  affection  is  present  and  urgent  to  be  received  with  it  :  so  that 
although  man  is  not  conscious  of  it,  it  really  is  by  the  Holy  Word,  and  not  at 
all  independently  of  it,  that  every  heavenly  grace  of  which  he  ever  becomes  a 
partaker  enters  his  breast.  The  Word  of  God,  both  as  to  its  internal  spirit 
and  life  and  external  form  and  letter,  is  the  grand  medium  by  which  the  Lord 
imparts  aid  to  his  spiritual  Jeshurun,  hi§  true  church ;  it  is  thus  that  he  rideth 
upon  the  heaven  to  his  help,  and  in  his  excellency  on  the  clouds.  If  we  sup- 
pose the  visible  heaven  and  vapoury  clouds  to  be  meant,  what  becomes  of  the 
sense  of  the  passage  .' 

2.  In  the  eighteenth  Psalm  we  have  a  sublime  description  of  the  delive- 
rance of  the  church,  or  of  the  member  of  the  church,  in  the  person  of  David, 
from  a  state  of  severe  temptation  ;  and  in  the  description  of  the  interference 
of  the  Divine  Being  on  the  occasion  occur  these  words  :  "  He  bowed  the 
heavens  also,  and  came  down,  and  darkness  was  under  his  feet.  And  he  rode 
upon  a  cherub  and  did  fly  ;  yea,  he  did  fly  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind.  He 
made  darkness  his  secret  place  ;  his  pavilion  round  about  him  were  dark  wa- 
ters and  thick  clouds  of  the  skies  :  at  the  brightness  that  was  before  him  his 
thick  clouds  passed  :  hail  stones  and  coals  of  fire."*  To  low  the  heavens  and 
come  down,  is  a  phrase  expressive  of  the  Lord's  presence,  with  the  interior 
things  of  his  Divine  Truth  or  Word,  signified  by  the  heavens,  in  its  exteriors, 
to  which  the  former  come  down.  The  darkness  under  his  feet  is  the  Divine 
Truth  in  its  lowest  form,  where  the  light  of  his  internal  contents  terminates 
in  the  cloud  of  the  letter  :  this  appears  as  darkness  to  those  who  are  in  a  state 
of  opposition,  and  who  can  discern  nothing  of  the  light  which  shines  through 
the  letter  from  the  pui"e  truth  within  : — witness  the  reproaches  cast  upon  the 
Word  by  Deists  and  Atheists,  who  would  fain  persuade  the  world  that  it  is  the 
most  senseless  and  even  pernicious  book  that  ever  was  produced.  Jl  cherub 
is  used  in  Scripture  as  a  personification  of  the  Word  in  its  letter :  but  to  go 
into  the  proof  of  this  would  lead  us  too  far  from  our  immediate  object.  "  He 
maketh  darkness  his  secret  place  ;  his  pavilion  round  about  him  were  dark 
waters  and  thick  clouds  of  the  skies," — is  said  in  amplification  of  the  same 
subject,  and  still  relates  to  the  investing  of  Divine  Truth,  in  its  ultimate  form, 

*  Ver.  9  to  12. 


NO.   IV.  APPENDIX.  xli 

with  a  clothing  of  appearances,  within  which,  nevertheless,  abided  the  Divine 
Presence.  And  when  it  is  added,  "  At  the  brightness  that,  was  before  him  his 
thick  clouds  passed  :  hail-stones  and  coals  of  fire,"  the  allusion  is,  to  the  dis- 
persion of  the  false  notions  vvhicji  are  often  drawn  from  the  literal  sense  of  the 
Word  not  understood,  by  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine  Truth  contained 
within,  which  is  called  the  hrightiiess  that  was  before  him  :  hailstones,  being 
frozen  drops  of  rain,  which  descend  ihdeed  from  the  clouds,  but  in  a  form 
which  gives  them  a  destructive  instead  of  a  fertilizing  nature,  are  appropriate 
symbols  of  truths  from  the  letter  of  the  Holy  Word  falsified  by  peiTerse  inter- 
pretations ;  and  coa/5  of  _^.re  are  suitable  emblems  of  the  lusts  or  concupis- 
cences of  the  natural  man,  especially  of  his  lust  of  perverting  and  misrepre- 
senting the  Word  by  regarding  it  under  the  influence  of  his  evil  inclinations. 
These  are  spoken  of  as  sent  forth  by  the  Lord  ;  as  is  also  the  case  wlien  simi- 
lar judgments  are  described  in  the  account  of  the  plagues  of  Egypt  :  yet  we 
are  certain  that  he  cannot  be  the  author  of  the  perversions  of  his  Word  by 
mankind  :  the  meaning  then  is,  not  that  such  things  actually  proceed  from 
him  and  his  Word,  but  that  their  existence  is  discovered  at  his  presence  and 
at  that  of  his  Divine  Truth  ;  and  that  when  judgment  is  executed  upon  the 
wicked,  they  are  left  to  their  own  false  and  evil  imaginations,  and  to  the 
misery  which  attends  such  a  state. 

It  may  here  be  necessary  to  meet  a  difficulty  which  some  minds  may  feel  at 
this  representation  of  the  Divine  Truth,  which  we  aflirm  to  be  the  same  as 
the  Word,  as  enveloping  the  Divine  Majesty. 

Whilst  we  think  of  the  Word,  merely  as  a  book,  there  certainly  is  some 
difficulty  in  conceiving  how  it  can  form  "  a  pavilion"  for  the  residence  of  the 
Majesty  of  heaven.  It  is  easily  seen  by  most  persons,  as  soon  as  mentioned, 
that  the  most  essential  attributes  of  the  Divine  Nature  are  Love  and  Wisdom, 
Goodness  and  Truth.  It  is  also  readily  appreliended,  that  every  grace  which 
can  adorn  the  mind  of  man  has  reference  to  Love  and  Wisdom,  Goodness  and 
Truth,  under  some  form  or  combination  or  other.  Now  it  is  allowed  on  all 
hands,  that  man  can  receive  nothing, — nothing  of  a  heavenly  nature, — ex- 
cept it  be  given  him  from  above  ;  according  to  the  Lord's  own  words,  "  With- 
out me,  ye  can  do  nothing."*  Yet  it  is  also  acknowledged  by  all,  that  God  i.'j 
infinitely  higher  than  man,  or  than  the  highest  finite  intelligence  :  how  then 
can  the  heavenly  graces  of  which  he  alone  is  the  Author,  be  imparted  from 
God  to  beings  so  nmch  below  him  ?  how,  but,  con'espondingly,  as  heat  and 
light,  the  proper  symbols  of  love  and  wisdom,  are  conveyed  to  the  earth  from 
the  Sun  of  Nature,  the  best  though  faint  image  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  ? 
that  is,  by  a  continual  emanation  of  love  and  wisdom,  goodness  and  truth, 
flowing  from  the  Lord,  as  heat  and  light  continually  emanate  from  the  sun. 
By  such  an  emanation  then,  doubtless,  they  are  communicated  :  and  all  that 
thus  proceeds  from  the  Lord,  whether  it  be  regarded  as  reduced  to  writing  or 
not,  is  called  in  Scripture  the  Word  of  God,  and  is  represented  by  the  light, 

*  Jolm  XV.  -5. 


Xlii  APPENDIX.  NO.   IV. 

it 

tenninating  at  length  in  the  clouds,  with  which,  in  the  passage  of  the  Psalms 
examined  in  the  Lecture,  Jeliovah  is  said  to  clothe  himself  as  with  a  garment. 
Of  course,  it  is  not  the  written  Word  of  which  it  is  said,  "  By  the  Word  of 
the  Lord  were  the  heavens  made  and  all  the  host  of  them  by  the  breath 
(or  spirit)  of  his  mouth  ;"*  and  "  All  things  were  made  by  him  (or  it.)"t 
Now  this  sphere  of  Divine  Truth,  (as  we  will  continue  to  term  it,)  emanating 
from  the  Lord,  when  it  comes  within  the  confines  of  the  world  of  nature, 
clothes  itself,  as  is  attempted  to  be  shewn  in  the  Lecture  above, t  with  such 
ideas  and  images  as  we  find  in  the  literal  sense  of  the  written  Word  :  never- 
theless, it  ma)'  easily  be  conceived  of  separately  from  the  writings  in  which 
we  possess  it  :  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  chain  of  ideas  occupying  the  minds  of 
a  certain  class  of  intelligent  beings  :  or  even  as  a  sphere  of  perceptions,  inde- 
pendently of  any  minds  supposed  to  perceive  them,  surrounding  the  Godhead, 
but  far  beneath  the  seat  of  his  immediate  presence.  But  it  is  perfectly  evi- 
dent, that  a  chain  or  sphere  of  ideas  of  this  kind  might  be  reduced  to  writing 
without  at  all  changing  its  nature  :  accordingly,  this  has  been  done  in  the 
written  Word,  which  comprehends  the  sphere  of  Divine  Truth,  or  the  ideas 
with  which  it  invests  itself,  when  it  comes  within  the  precincts  of  nature,  re- 
duced, further,  into  natural  language  ;  and  the  written  Word  thus  presents,  in 
its  literal  sense,  the  very  Divine  Truth  rendered  obvious  to  our  senses  under 
its  lowest  form  or  manifestation. 

Now  although  it  may  at  first  be  difl^cult  to  conceive  how  the  literal  sense 
of  the  Word  of  God,  as  contained  in  a  book,  can  afford,  as  stated  in  the  pas- 
sage we  have  just  been  considering,  a  pavilion  for  the  Most  High  ;  it  is  easy 
enough  to  apprehend  how  a  sphere  or  emanation  of  Divine  Truth,  clothed 
with  natural  ideas,  may  be  regarded  under  the  image  of  such  a  pavilion  :  and 
yet  we  see  also,  that  such  a  sphere  of  Divine  Truth  clothed  with  natural  ideas 
might  easil)'  be  reduced  into  writing  ;  that  is,  a  book  or  writing  might  be 
framed  which  should  convey  the  same  ideas  to  the  mind  of  its  reader.  Thus 
it  is  perfectly  evident,  that  all  that  is  true  of  an  emanation  of  Divine  Truth 
clothed  with  ideas  taken  from  the  world  of  nature  and  from  human  percep- 
tions, is  equally  true  of  the  written  Word  in  its  literal  sense  :  of  this  also  it 
may  be  said,  in  reference  to  its  Author,  that  "  his  pavilion  round  about  him 
were  dark  waters  and  thick  clouds  of  the  skies."  Considered  as  a  mere  col- 
lection of  words  and  letters,  the  Holy  Word,  as  existing  in  a  book,  would 
indeed  be  nothing  ;  but  considered  as  to  the  ideas  which  those  words  in  their 
h'teral  sense  convey  to  the  mind  of  an  intelligent  being,  the  written  Word  is 
the  same  as  the  Divine  Truth  emanating  from  the  Lord,  and  forming  a  sphere 
around  him,  when  brought  down  to  the  apprehension  of  man  regarded  only  as 
an  inhabitant  of  the  world  of  nature  :  and  thus  both  the  one  and  the  other, — 
both  the  written  Word  in  its  letter  and  the  sphere  of  Divine  Truth  in  its  ex- 
treme circumference, — are  considered  in  Scripture  as  the  clouds  of  heaven, — 
as  the  basis  in  which  the  pure  Divine  Truth  terminates,  and  as  the  covering 
which  shields  from  unprepared  minds  its  otherwise  too  dazzling  glories. 

*  Ps.  .\xxiii.  6.  +  John  i.  3.  t  P- 160. 


VQ.  IV.  APPENDIX.  Xliii 

3.  We  will  proceed  to  try  the  application  of  this  interpretation  of  "  th« 
clouds"  to  another  remarkable  passage  of  the  Psalms,  wliich  roads,  "  Ascribe 
.  ye  strength  unto  God  ;  his  excellency  is  over  Israel,  and  his  strength  is  in  the 
clouds^*  Here,  as  every  whore  else  where  clouds  are  mentioned  in  connex- 
ion with  the  Lord,  the  merely  literal  sense  affords  no  intelligible  meaning  at 
all  :  for  what  sense  would  there  be  in  saying  that  the  strength  of  the  Lord  is 
in  the  clouds,  if  by  the  clouds  were  meant  the  mere  unstable  vapours  that 
float  over  our  heads.  But  understood  in  the  spiritual  signification  of  the  term, 
as  we  have  explained  it,  the  meaning  is  most  beautiful,  and  the  symbol  chosen 
to  express  it  most  appropriate.  For  it  is  in  the  lowest  or  most  ultimate  form 
of  Divine  Truth,  which  is  what  is  meant  by  the  clouds,  that  its  strength  prin- 
cipally resides  ;  provided,  that  is,  it  be  not  separated  from  its  interior  contents ; 
for  then  it  becomes  like  a  body  without  a  soul,  which  is  a  powerless  carcase. 
It  is  known  to  all,  that  man's  body  is  the  covering  of  his  soul,  and  that,  though 
his  soul  is  capable  of  existing  without  the  body,  it  quits  with  the  body  all 
power  of  acting  upon  the  solid  substances  of  this  world  of  nature  :  and  so 
the  Divine  Truth,  as  seen  in  heavenly  light,  would  be  without  the  power  of 
affecting  the  minds  of  men  in  this  world  of  nature,  were  it  not  invested  with 
its  literal  sense  for  that  purpose  :  but  in  this  it  is  clothed  with  all  its  fulness 
and  with  all  its  power.  Something  similar  obtains  in  human  compositions 
and  discourses.  Every  attentive  observer  of  such  subjects  must  have  noticed; 
that  the  more  the  ideas  which  a  speaker  wishes  to  convey  are  clothed  with 
natural  images,  provided  the  intended  meaning  is  distinctly  seen,  the  more 
strong  do  the  language,  and  the  sentiment  too,  appear.  An  orator  who  should 
address  even  a  polished  assembly  in  a  chain  of  subtle  reasoning,  presenting 
none  but  abstract  ideas  expressed  in  the  artificial  language  of  philosophers, 
would  make  but  little  impression  ;  but  he  who  should  appeal  to  their  natural 
feelings,  in  ideas  taken  from  their  common  sentiments,  and  conveyed  in  lan- 
guage drawn  from  sensible  images,  would  be  esteemed  a  speaker  of  far  great- 
er power.  In  the  same  manner,  the  Word  in  its  letter  is  always  felt  to  possess 
great  strength  and  power,  if  there  be  a  perception  at  the  same  time  of  its 
genuine  meaning  ;  and  the  same  truths  conveyed  in  abstract  terms  are  rela- 
tively unimpressive.  Thus  if  we  hear  this  sentiment,  "  The  Lord  at  some 
period  will  reveal  himself  to  the  church  by  the  discovery  of  the  spiritual  sense 
contained  witiiin  the  letter  of  his  Word  :"  the  sense  intended  is  very  clear, 
but  it  does  not  affect  the  mind  with  any  strength  :  but  if  tlie  sentiment  he 
expressed  in  the  language  of  the  letter  of  the  Word,  "  Then  shall  they  see 
the  Son  of  man  coming  in  a  cloud  with  power  and  great  glory  ;"  and  it  be  at 
the  same  time  seen  that  such  is  the  real  sense  of  these  words  ;  they  will  then 
be  attended  by  a  perception  of  power  as  well  as  clearness  ; — this  portion  of 
"  the  elouds"  will  be  felt  to  possess  strength. 

Admitting  then  this  interpretation  of  the  symbol,  as  being  expressive  of  the 
Word  in  its  literal  sense,  it  perhaps  will  be  seen  with  what  accurate  propriety 
it  is  said  of  Jehovah,  that  "  his  strength  is  in  the  clouds." 

*  Pi.  UTiii.  U. 


xliv  APPENDIX.  NO.  IV. 

4.  There  is,  moreover,  one  passage  of  the  Psalms,  in  which  this  interpreta- 
tion of  the  clouds  is  given  almost  in  express  terms.  Addressing  the  Lord,  it  is 
said,  "  Thy  mercy  is  great  above  the  heavens,  and  thy  truth  reacheth  unto 
the  CLOUDS."*  Is  not  this  a  plain  affirmation,  that  the  clouds  are  used  for  the 
lowest  plane  or  basis  in  which  the  Divine  Truth  proceeding  from  the  Lord 
terminates  and  closes  ?  and  this,  certainly,  is  in  the  literal  sense  of  the  written 
Word. 

5.  This  view  of  the  subject  will  also  enable  us  to  see  the  reason  why,  on 
various  most  important  occasions,  divine  revelations,  or  enunciations  of  most 
important  divine  truths,  are  said  to  have  been  made  from  clouds. 

The  ten  commandments  were  thus  delivered  at  Mount  Sinai.  For  that 
purpose  "  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses,  Lo,  I  come  unto  thee  in  a  thick  cloud  :"\ 
and  accordingly  "  it  came  to  pass  on  the  third  day  in  the  morning,  that  there 
were  thunders,  and  lightnings,  and  a  thick  cloud  upon  the  mount,  and  the 
voice  of  the  trumpet  exceeding  loud. "J  How  beautiful  and  expressive  was 
this,  if  a  cloud  is  the  symbol  of  the  Word  in  its  letter,  from  and  by  which  it  is 
that  God  communicates  his  will  to  man  ! 

The  same  remark  may  be  applied  to  this  parallel  example.  When  Moses 
was  afterwards  called  up  into  the  mount  to  receive  the  tables  on-which  the  law 
was  written,  and  to  have  further  revelations  communicated  to  him,  the  same 
symbol  was  repeated  :  "  And  Moses  went  up  into  the  Mount  ;  and  a  cloud 
covered  the  mount  :  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  abode  upon  Mount  Sinai,  and 
the  cloud  covered  it,  six  days  :  and  the  seventh  day  he  called  to  Moses  out  of 
the  midst  of  the  cloud."  ^ 

So,  because  it  is  by  the  Word  in  its  letter  that  all  divine  instruction  is  im- 
parted to  man,  it  was  customary  for  a  cloud  to  appear  over  the  mercy-seat : 
thus  the  Lord  says  to  Moses,  "  Speak  unto  Aaron  thy  brother  that  he  come 
not  at  all  times  into  the  holy  place  within  the  veil  before  the  mercy-seat,  that  he 
die  not :  for  I  will  appear  in  the  cloud  upon  the  mercy-seat. "||  And  it  was 
from  over  the  mercy-seat,  thus  out  of  this  cloud,  that  the  Lord^  after  the  taber- 
nacle was  erected,  held  his  usual  discourses  with  Moses  ;  "  Thou  shalt  put  the 
mercy-seat  above  the  ark,  and  in  the  ark  thou  shalt  put  the  testimony  that  I 
shall  give  thee  :  and  there  I  will  meet  thee,  and  will  commune  with  thee  from 
above  the  mercy-seat,  from  between  the  two  cherubims  which  are  upon  the  ark 
of  the  testimony,  of  all  things  which  I  will  give  thee  in  commandment  unto 
the  children  of  Israel. "H  How  well  the  signification  of  the  ark  accords  with 
that  of  the  cloud  which  commonly  hovered  over  it,  may  appear  from  what  is 
said  on  the  former  subject  in  the  fifth  Lecture.  We  have  noticed  above,  that 
the  cherubs  also  were  personified  emblems  of  the  Diviiie  Word  in  its  letter. 

When,  likewise,  Moses  had  removed  his  tent  or  tabernacle  out  of  the  camp, 
on  account  of  the  idolatry  of  the  Israelites  in  the  affair  of  the  golden  calf,  "  it 
came  to  pass,  as  Moses  entered  into  the  tabernacle,  the  cloudy  pillar  descend- 


*  P*.  cviii.  4.  t  Ex.  xix.  9.  i  Ver.  16.  §  Ex.  xxv.  15,  16. 

1!  Ler.  XVI.  2.  If  Ex.  xxv.  21,  22. 


P(0.   IV.  APPENDIX.  Xlv 

ed,  and  stood  at  tlie  door  of  tlie  tabernacle ;  and  the  Lord,"  say  our  transla- 
tors, "  talked  with  3Ioses:"*  but  as  the  Lord  is  not  mentioned  in  the  original, 
it  is  actually  affirmed  that  the  cloudy  pillar  talked  with  Moses. 

A  cloud  being  the  emblem  of  the  Word  in  the  letter ;  and  it  being  by  the 
Word,  in  which  the  Lord  himself  has  an  abode,  that  the  Christian  is  guided  in 
his  spiritual  journey  ;  how  beautifully  and  aptly  was  this  represented  in  the 
journey  of  the  Israelites  through  the  wilderness;  when  "  the  Lord  went  before 
them  by  day  in  a  pillar  of  a  cloud  to  lead  them  the  way  !"t  As  in  his  darkest 
states  the  Christian  is  still  under  the  Divine  Protection,  and  is  led  by  the 
Divine  Love  when  his  perceptions  of  truth  are  most  obscure  ;  this  was  repre- 
sented by  the  pillar  ofjirc  which  guided  the  Israelites  by  night. 

We  find  the  same  symbol  employed,  to  teach  the  same  lesson,  upon  a  most 
weighty  occasion,  in  the  Gospel.  When  Jesus  was  transfigured  before  the 
three  disciples,  "  behold  a  bright  cloxul  overshadowed  them :  and  behold  a 
voice  out  of  the  cloud,  which  said,  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well 
pleased  :  hear  ye  him. "J 

As,  however,  many  of  the  images  used  in  the  Wor4,  retaining  their  most 
general  signification,  often  take  two  opposite  specific  ones;  so  are  clouds 
sometimes  used  as  emblems  of  darkness  and  ignorance;  of  a  state  in  which 
no  light  is  seen  from  the  letter  of  the  Word,  but  false  persuasions,  adopted  as 
true,  exclude  the  light  of  heaven  ;  as  when  the  prophets  speak  of  "  a  day  of 
darkness  and  gloominess,  a  day  of  clouds  and  of  thick  darkness."  § 

Surelj',  on  thus  beholding  how  constantly  the  passages  in  which  clouds  are 
mentioned  in  connexion  with  the  Lord,  yield  a  lucid  and  instructive  sense, 
when  they  are  regarded  as  symbols  of  Divine  Truth  in  its  shade,  or  when  it  is 
veiled  over  by  a  covering  of  appearances,  or,  specifically,  of  the  Word  in  its 
letter:  it  must  be  difiicult  to  doubt  that  this  is  the  true  interpretation  of  the 
image.  This  signification  is  grounded,  we  have  seen,  in  a  clear  and  just  ana- 
logy :  and  when  we  find  that  on  its  application  to  the  clouds  of  the  literal  sense 
they  in  so  many  instances  lose  their  obscurity,  and  become  bright  clouds  trans- 
lucent with  the  light  of  heaven  ;  we  surely  have  reason,  not  only  to  accept 
this  as  the  true  interpretation,  but  to  admit  also,  that  the  principle  on  which  it 
is  founded  affords  the  true  key  for  decyphering  the  symbolic  language  of  Holy 
Writ.     Such  perpetual  coincidences  could  never  originate  in  chance. 

♦  Ch.  xxxiii.  9.         t  Ch.  xiii.  21,  &c.         i  Mat.  xvii.  5.         §  Joel  ii.  2. 


Xlvi  APPENDIX.  NO.  V. 


No.  V.  (Page  301.) 


Illustrations  of  the  Jewish  Character  ;   evincing  its  aptitude  for  a 
Dispensation  consisting  chiefly  in  external  Rites. 

It  is  affirmed  in  the  text  above,  that  the  Israelites  were  selected  to  represent 
those  spiritual  things  which  they  were  incapable  of  inwardly  perceiving  and 
feeling  ;  and  it  is  obsei-ved  that  their  genius  and  temper  were  such  as  rendered 
them  better  adapted  than  any  other  people  to  this  purpose  ;  for  they  were  dis* 
tinguished  by  a  remarkable  tendency  to  multiply  ceremonial  observances,  even 
beyond  what  was  required  of  them,  and  to  substitute  these  for  the  morals  en- 
joined by  the  Law  of  God.  Further  to  prove  that  this  was  really  their  cha- 
racter I  have  translated  and  abridged,  from  the  Sijnagoga  Judaica  of  Buxtorf, 
a  number  of  examples  of  the  manner  in  which  they  find,  in  almost  every  text 
of  Scripture,  an  authority  for  soipe  trifling  ceremony  or  custom.  These  exhi- 
bit such  marks  of  a  gross  and  superficial  turn  of  mind,  as  one  would  hardly 
suspect  was  to  be  found  in  the  history  of  man :  but  idle  and  ridiculous  as  they 
are  in  themselves,  they  teach  a  lesson  that  is  weighty  and  important,  if  they 
establish  the  view  ofl"ered  in  the  Lectures,  of  the  purpose  for  which  the  Israel- 
ites were  selected  as  a  peculiar  people  :  they  also  are  not  a  little  curious,  as  un- 
fijlding  an  extraordinary  chapter  in  the  great  complex  volume  of  human  nature. 
Buxtorf  every  where  gives  as  his  authorities  the  Talnuid  and  the  Rabbins. 

It  was  the  practice,  says  the  book  Colbo,  and  in  some  places  is  so  still,  when 
a  child  first  began  to  learn  to  read  the  Law,  to  give  him  some  cakes  made  of 
honey  and  milk  ;  because  it  is  written,  "  He  made  him  to  suck  honey  out  of 
the  rock:"  [Deut.  xxxii.  13 :]  and  again,  "  Honey  and  milk  are  under  thy 
tongue  :"  [Cant.  iv.  11  :]  and  the  letters  of  his  horn-book,  also,  were  smeared 
over  with  honey,  which  he  was  to  lick  with  his  tongue,  because  the  Psalmist 
says,  "  How  sweet  are  thy  words  unto  my  taste  !  yea,  sweeter  than  honey  to 
my  mouth  !"  [Ps.  cix.  103.]* — A  truly  devout  Jew  ought  to  rise  before  daylight, 
because  David  says,  "  I  will  awake  the  morning ;"  [Ps.  Ivii.  9  ; — in  our  trans- 
lation, "  I  will  awake  early ;"]  that  is,  they  say,  "  I  awake  the  morning  ;  not, 
The  morning  awakes  me."  This  is  alleged  to  be  necessary  on  account  of  the 
early  prayers,  which  are  to  be  offered  at  the  rising  of  the  sun,  and  not  after  it, 
because  David  teaches  again,  "  They  shall  fear  thee  with  the  sun  ;"  [Ps.  Ixxii. 
5';]  that  is,  as  they  explain  it,  "  They  ought  to  praise  thee,  in  their  morning 
prayers,  at  the  very  rising  of  the  sun."t  (It  is  to  be  observed,  that  in  this  pas- 
sage, as  in  many  other  instances,  they  adhere  to  the  letter  of  the  original  in  a 
manner  that  totally  destroys  its  sense,  which  is  here  properly  given  in  the 
English  Version.) — They  affirm,  from  Ps.  Ivi.  8,  that  there  is  great  efficacy  in 

*  Syiiag.  Jud.  Cap.  vii.  t  Cap.  viii. 


NO.   V.  APPENDIX.  Xlvil 

tears  shed  profusely;  and  the  book  Rcshkh  Cliocmah  states,  that  if  tlie  forehead 
be  washed  with  tears,  certain  sins,  wliich  are  written  there,  are  bhitted  out ; 
and  that  this  is  referred  to  when  it  is  written,  "  Set  a  mark  upon  tJie  tbreheads 
of  the  men  that  sigh  and  cry  for  all  the  abominations,"  &.c.  [Ez.  ix.  4.]* 

Their  superstitious  practices  connected  with  their  Tzitzith,  called  by  our 
translators  (Matt,  xxiii.  5,)  "  the  borders  of  their  garments,"  being  dangling 
appendages  to  the  corners,  and  their  Tephillin  or  Phylacteries,  which  are  little 
boxes,  containing  texts  of  Scripture,  which  they  fasten  on  their  forehead  and 
arm  ;  and  which  they  found  on  Num.  xv.  38,  Dent.  xxii.  12,  ch.  vi.  6,  8,  and 
Ex.  xiii.  9,  IG  ;  are  too  numerous  to  be  recited :  we  will  mention  only  one  cir- 
cumstance. Beside  the  passages  of  Scripture  put  in  the  Tei>hillin  or  Phylac- 
teries, they  represent  on  that  which  they  fix  on  the  forehead  the  letter  JJ^  on 
the  band  which  fastens  it  the  letter  *7,  and  on  the  thong  which  binds  the  other 
to  the  arm  the  letter  ^.  Taken  together,  these  letters  make  the  word  ^"^JJ' 
(Shaddai,)  which  is  one  of  the  names  of  God;  and'thus  they  affirm  is  fulfilled, 
with  all  its  advantages,  the  promise  which  says,  "  And  all  the  people  of  the 
earth  shall  see  that  the  name  of  the  Lord  is  called  (or  read)  upon  thee,  and 
they  shall  be  afraid  of  thee."  [Deut.  xxviii.  10.] t  Instead,  however,  of  the 
women's  wearing  these  phylacteries,  or  these  talismans,  (for  such  they  consi- 
der them,)  it  is  sufficient  for  them  to  say  "  Amen"  to  their  husbands'  prayers ; 
which,  they  allege,  Isaiah  teaches  when  he  says,  "  Open  ye  the  gates,  that  the 
righteous  nation,  which  keepelh  the  truth,  may  enter  in  :"  [Ch.  xxvi.2.]  The 
Hebrew  word  for  truth  is  Amen  :  hence  they  affirm,  that  to  say,  "  the  nation 
which  keepeth  the  truth,"  is  the  same  thing  as  to  say,  "  they  who  observe  the 
Amen,  who  say  Amen  to  every  thing,  who  believe  all  that  is  said  in  the  prayers, 
&nd  respond  Amen  .'  Selah!"X 

Respecting  their  Synagogues  and  the  mode  of  behaving  in  them,  they  have 
numerous  precepts,  consisting  of  similar  applications  of  the  words  of  Scripture 
to  external  things  and  performances.  Their  doctors  teach  that  the  synagogue 
should  be  built  in  the  highest  part  of  the  town,  because  Solomon  says  that 
Wisdom  "  crieth  in  the  head  or  crown  of  those  who  are  tumultuous"  [in  prayer, 
as  they  interpret  Prov.  i.  21  :]  It  ought  therefore  to  be  raised  above  all  the 
houses  in  the  place,  according  to  the  words  of  Ezra,  '■'  to  exalt  the  house  of 
our  God."  [Ch.  ix.  9.]§  The  worshippers  ought  to  rit^h  violenthj  into  it  like 
soldiers  who  take  a  city  by  assault ;  because  David  says,  (as  they  understand 
him,)  "  We  will  walk  into  the  house  of  God  with  noise  and  haste  ;"  [Ps.  Iv. 
14  :] — that  is,  they  say,  "  as  if  dogs  were  set  at  us,  and  we  felt  them  fastening 
their  teeth  in  our  hind  quarters."  They  also  ought  to  tremble  and  shake  on  en- 
tering :  for  David  says  "  Worship  the  Lord  in  the  glory  for  beauty)  of  holiness ;" 
[Ps.  xxix.  2  ;]  where  they  direct  us  not  to  read  n*T7nD  (bchadrath)  "  in 
glory,"  but  n*TnnD  (bechardath)  "  in  trembling."\\  Thoy  are  to  recite  the 
prayers  which  they  call  Shmon'csre,  standing  loith  both  feet  straight ;  because 
it  is  said  of  the  living  creatures  in  Ezekiel's  vision,  "  And  their  feet   were 

*  Ibid.  t  Cap.  ix.  %  Hji^l-  §  Cap.  x.  1|  Ibid. 


Xlviii  APPENDIX.  NO.  V. 

straight  feet."  [Ez.  i.  7.]*  When  they  conclude  their  prayers,  tliey  are  to 
leap  tlirec  steps  harkward,  bowing  at  the  same  time,  and  before  they  raise 
themselves  up  they  are  to  incline  their  head  towards  the  left,  because  there  ia 
the  right  hand  of  God,  before  which,  when  they  pray,  they  are  to  consider 
themselves  as  standing.  Their  wise  men  say  that  this  is  done  in  memory  of  a 
miracle  which  happened  at  Mount  Sinai  when  God  gave  the  people  the  law. 
On  that  occasion  we  read,  that  when  "  all  the  people  saw  the  thunderings,  and 
the  lightnings,  and  the  noise  of  the  trumpet,  and  the  mountain  smoking,  they 
removed,  and  stood  afar  off  "  [Ex.  xx.  18  :]  and  the  Rabbins  affirm,  that  their 
terror  was  such,  that  in  a  single  moment  they  fled  away  three  railesA  When 
they  go  out  of  the  synagogue,  they  are  to  walk  backwai  ds  ;  and  the  Talmud- 
ists  prove  the  necessity  of  doing  so  by  the  contrary  example  of  the  wicked 
men  seen  by  Ezekiel,  "  with  their  backs  toward  the  temple  of  the  Lord :"  [Ch. 
viii.  16  :]  they  are  also  to  retire  slowly,  making  very  short  steps;  for  their 
steps  are  counted  by  God,  and,  if  numerous,  obtain  a  great  reward  ;  as  it  ia 
written,  "  For  now  thou  numbercst  my  steps."     [Job  xiv.  16.]t 

He  who  prays  at  home  must  choose  a  convenient  place,  which  must  not  be 
an  elevated,  but  a  lovj  one  ;  that  he  may  be  able  to  say  with  David,  "  Out  of 
the  depths  have  I  cried  unto  thee,  O  Lord."  [Ps.  cxxx.  1.]  He  must  also 
shul:c  and  tirist  his  body  in  all  directions ;  to  fulfil  the  words,  "  Ml  my  bones 
shall  say.  Lord,  who  is  like  unto  thee  ?"     [Ps.  xxxv.  10.]  § 

The  commandments  which  enjoin  obedience  to  the  law,  they  apply  to  the 
mere  reading  or  hearing  of  it.  Thus  they  say,  that  on  a  man's  returning  from 
morning  prayers,  before  he  goes  out  about  his  usual  business,  he  must  spend 
some  time  in  reading  the  law  ;  a  commandment  for  which  they  find  in  Deut. 
vii.  12.  The  word  which  our  translators  have  there  rendered  if, — "  It  shall 
come  to  pass?/  ye  hearken,"  &c. — means,  in  its  primary  sense,  the  heel; 
wherefore  the  Jews  prefer  to  read  the  passage  thus:  "  The  heel  shall  be,  and 
ye  shall  hear  ;"  the  sense  of  which  they  say,  is,  "  Before  you  lift  up  your  heels 
to  go  out,  you  must  read  or  Acwr  something  out  of  the  Law  :"  The  importance 
of  this  practice  they  illustrate  by  this  strange  pei-version.  While  the  first  tem- 
ple was  standing,  they  state,  the  people  practised  at  Jerusalem  many  evils, 
indulged  in  heinous  sins,  committed  all  kinds  of  incest,  and  defiled  themselves 
with  the  vilest  idolatry  :  all  this  God  passed  over,  taking  no  notice  of  it  till 
they  ncghctrd  the  study  of  the  Law  ;  but  then  he  destroyed  or  dispersed  the 
people,  and  levelled  the  temple  with  the  ground  :  according  to  his  words  in 
Jeremiah  ;  "  W^herefore  is  the  land  perished,  and  is  like  the  burnt  up  wilder- 
ness ?  Because  they  \\-A\e  forsaken  my  Laic,  which  I  set  before  them."  [Ch. 
ix.  12,  13.]  II 

Various  trifling  ceremonies  are  to  be  observed  on  sitting  down  to  table,  and 
blessing  the  bread.  So,  in  blessing  the  wine,  the  cup  is  first  to  be  lifted  up 
with  both  hands,  because  David  says,  "  Lift  up  your  hands  in  holiness  and 
bless  tlie  Lord."     [Ps.  cxxxiv.  2.]     It  is  afterwards  to  be  held  with  the  right 

*  Ibid.  t  Il>id.  X  Ibid.  §  Ibid.  I)  Cap,  xi. 


NO.  V.  APPENDIX.  Xlix 

hand  alone,  but  if  loo  heavy,  the  right  hand  may  be  supported  by  the  left  ; 
because  it  is  written,  in  tiie  singular  number,  "  /  will  lift  up  the  cup  of  salva- 
tion, and  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord."  [Ps.  cxvi.  13.]* — Salt  is  by  all 
means  to  be  put  upon  the  table,  because  they  compare  the  dining  table  to  the 
ancient  altar  and  the  food  which  was  oft'ered  upon  it ;  respecting  which  it  is 
said,  "  Every  oblation  of  thy  meat-offering  shalt  thou  season  with  salt  ;  [Lev. 
ii.  13  ;]  hence  their  wise  ones  say,  "  If  there  be  salt  on  the  table  in  which  to 
dip  the  consecrated  bread,  the  table  becomes  an  altar  of  expiation,  and  a  pro- 
tection against  punishment."  When  they  give  thanks,  they  cut  deeply  into 
the  loaf,  but  take  care  not  quite  to  divide  it ;  because,  as  they  choose  to  under- 
stand Ps.  X.  3,  it  is  written,  "  The  wicked  boasteth  of  his  liGart'i  desire ;  and 
he  that  cutteth  through  when  he  giveth  thanks,  irritateth  the  Lord."t 

Their  synagogue-copies  of  the  Law  are  fastened  to  vwodcn  rollers,  elegant- 
ly ornamented,  by  which  alone  they  are  to  be  carried  or  touched.  These  they 
call  the  tree  of  life,  the  same  word  in  Hebrew  signifying  both  a  tree  and  a 
piece  of  wood  ;  and  they  give  this  name  to  the  handles  of  the  books,  because 
Solomon  has  said,  "  Wisdom  is  a  tree  of  life  to  them  that  lay  hold  upon  her." 
[Prov.  iii.  18.]t 

They  deem  it  necessary  to  celebrate  the  Sabbath  with  much  festivity,  and 
particularly  to  have  three  sumptuous  meals,  one  on  the  Friday  evening  when 
the  Sabbath  begins,  another  at  the  Saturday  noon,  and  the  third  in  the  even- 
ing. They  find  this  prescribed  by  Moses,  when,  speaking  of  the  manna  to  be 
eaten  on  the  sabbath,  he  says,  "  Eat  that  to-day  :  for  to-day  is  a  sabbath  unto 
the  Lord  :  to-day  3-e  shall  not  find  it  in  the  field  :"  [Ex.  xvi.  25:]  where,  be- 
cause to-day  is  repeated  three  times,  Moses,  they  say,  meant  to  intimate,  that 
they  should  have,  on  the  sabbath,  three  regular  feasts.  They  are  also  to  wear 
the  best  clothes  they  can  afford  to  purchase.  It  is  written  of  the  sabbath, 
"  Thou  shalt  honour  it ;"  [Is.  Iviii.  13 :]  How  is  it  to  be  honoured  ?  The  Tal- 
mud answers,  "  By  not  suffering  your  sabbath-day  garment  to  be  like  your 
common  garment."  At  dinner,  the  bread  is  fir^t  laid  upon  the  table-cloth,  and 
then  covered  with  a  napkin,  in  memory  of  the  njianna :  for,  in  the  wilderness,  the 
dew  fell  first,  then  the  manna,  and  then  dew  iigain,  so  that  the  manna  lay  in 
the  midst  of  the  dew,  just  as  if  it  were  between  two  cloths  :  therefore  the 
bread  should  be  laid  upon  one  cloth  and  be  covered  with  another.  For  the 
same  reason,  the  devout  housewives  make  pies  containing  meat  between  two 
layers  of  dough.  They  prove  that  genial  indulgences  are  to  be  practised  on 
the  sabbath  from  various  texts,  and  among  others  fi-om  one  in  which  none  but 
a  Jew  could  discover  such  a  meaning.  The  whole  verse  of  Isaiah  before  cited 
is  this  :  "  If  thou  turn  away  thy  fool  from  the  sabbath,  from  doing  thy  pleasure 
on  my  holy  day,  and  call  tlie  sabbath  a  delight,  the  holy  of  the  Lord,  honour- 
able, and  shalt  honour  him,  not  doing  thine  own  ways,  nor  finding  tJiine  own 
pleasure,  nor  speaking  thine  own  words  ;  then"  «&c.  Here  the  words,  "  call 
the  sabbath  a  delight,"  mean,  they  affirm,  that  the  sabbath  is  to  he  filled  with 
all  kinds  of  delights.     Many  of  the  Rabbins  have  given  similar  precepts,  sup- 

*  Cap.  xii.  t  IIj'J-  X  f-ap.  xiv. 


1  APPEWDIX.  NO.  V. 

ported  by  similar  applications  of  texts  of  Scripture  :  we  will  conclude  with  one 
by  Rabbi  Judah,  who  received  it,  he  says,  from  the  still  older  sage  Rabh  : 
"  Whoever  spends  the  sabbath  ynerrily,  shall  obtain  from  God  the  petitions  of 
his  heart :  as  it  is  written, '  Delight  thyself  in  the  Lord,  and  he  shall  give  thee 
the  desires  of  thy  heart.'  "     [Ps.  xxxvii.  4.]* 

Respecting  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread,  this  injunction  is  given  in  Exodus  : 
"  Unleavened  bread  shall  be  eaten  seven  days ;  and  there  shall  no  leavened 
bread  be  seen  with  thee,  neither  shall  there  be  leaven  seen  with  thee  in  all  thy 
quarters."  [Ch.  xiii.  7.]  This  they  have  made  the  ground  of  various  prac- 
tices, the  most  remarkable  of  which  is,  a  formal  search,  on  the  night  but  one 
before  the  passover,  by  the  master  of  the  family,  assisted  by  his  male  servants 
and  children,  all  with  wax  candles  in  their  hands,  into  every  corner  of  the 
house,  in  quest  of  leaven.  Supposing  such  a  regular  search  to  be  intended  by 
the  commandment,  why  conduct  it  by  candle  light  ?  Because  it  is  written  in 
Zepbaniah,  "  I  will  search  Jerusalem  with  candles,"  [Ch.  i.  12.]t — At  the  feast 
of  Pentecost,  in  memory  of  the  Law  received  at  that  time,  they  strew  the  floors 
of  their  houses,  synagogues  and  streets,  with  grass,  put  green  boughs,  roses, 
and  other  flowers  in  their  windows,  and  wear  green  chaplets  on  their  heads. 
What  has  this  to  do  with  the  giving  of  the  Law.'  They  answer,  The  pas- 
tures were  green  at  the  time  when  Moses  went  up  into  the  mountain  ;  for  it  is 
written,  "  Let  not  the  flocks  nor  herds  feed  before  that  mountain."  [Ex. 
ixxiv.  3.]t 

At  the  day  of  Atonement  they  light  up  candles  in  the  synagogues,  one  for 
every  man  who  belongs  to  it :  for  it  is  written,  "  Glorify  ye  the  Lord  in  the 
fires  ;"  [Is.  xxiv.  14  :]  which  they  read,  "  Glorify  the  Lord  with  lights."  But 
why  light  them  up  for  the  men  only  .'  Take  here  a  specimen  of  the  ingenuity 
of  the  Cabbalists,  and  of  the  kind  of  mysteries  which  they  find  in  the  Divine 
Word.  The  letters  of  the  word  "|^  (•^''er),  which  signifies  a  candle,  stand  for 
the  number  250.  Now  it  is  a  received  opinion  with  the  Jews,  that  the  mem- 
bers of  a  man's  body  are  in  number  two  hundred  and  forty-eight;  to  which  if 
you  add  two,  for  his  soul  and  spirit,  you  have  the  number  250  :  the  word  *1^ 
(JVer)  therefore,  whose  letters  make  that  number,  stands  for  a  man  as  well  as 
a  candle.  But  a  woman,  according  to  their  system  of  physics,  has  four  mem- 
bers more  than  a  man  ;  so  she  cannot  be  resolved  into  a  JVcr  or  candle.  Very 
pious  persons  often  light  up  two  wax  candles,  one  for  the  body  and  one  for  the 
soul,  and  call  the  latter,  which  is  the  largest,  the  candle  of  the  soul.  As  also 
the  soul  is  called  a  candle  by  Solomon,  [Prov.  xx.  27,]  they  say  that  to  light 
up  a  candle  for  it,  makes  an  atonement  for  the  soul.§ 

Respecting  the  mode  of  slaughtering  and  cutting  up  animals  for  food,  they 
have  invented  so  many  rules,  that  the  art  of  the  butcher  forms  with  them  one 
of  the  learned  professions,  and  is  not  allowed  to  be  practised  without  authori- 
ty from  the  Rabbins,  conveyed  by  a  regular  diploma.  No  sanction  is  alleged 
for  their  fancies  from  the   Scriptures,  but   the   following   passage  :    "  If  the 

*  Cap.  »v.  t  Cap.  xvii.  i  Cap.  xx.  §  Cap.  xxv. 


NO.  V.  APPENDIX.  ]i' 

place  which  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  chosen  to  put  his  nam©  there  be  too  far 
from  thee,  then  thou  shalt  kill  of  thy  herd  and  of  thy  flock,  which  the  Lord 
hath  given  thee,  as  I  have  commanded  thee,  and  thou  shalt  eat  in  thy  gates 
whatsoever  thy  soul  lusteth  after."  [Deut.  xii.  2L]  Now  as  no  directions  are 
any  where  given  respecting  the  mode  of  killing  animals,  they  affirm  that  tha 
words,  "  as  I  have  commanded  thee,"  (though  it  is  not  the  Lord  who  is  here 
the  speaker,  but  Moses,)  mean,  "  as  I  commanded  thee  orally  in  Mount 
Sinai  :"  the  specific  directions  therefore  are  not  to  be  sought  in  the  Written, 
but  in  the  Oral  Laic,  that  is,  in  their  traditions  ;  from  which  source  they  draw 
tliem  in  great  abundance,  and  have  composed  bulky  treatises  on  the  subject.* 

Of  the  numerous  observances  with  which  their  weddings  are  solemnized, 
we  will  mention  but  one.  Tlie  bride  is  led  three  times  round  the  bridegroom, 
because  it  is  written,  "  A  woman  shall  compass  a  man."     [Jcr.  xxxi.  22. ]t 

The  relatives  who  attend  the  funeral  of  a  person  deceased,  when  they  re- 
turn, are  to  sit  barefooted  on  the  ground  for  seven  days,  neither  eating  meat 
nor  drinking  wine,  but  exhibiting  the  utmost  wretchedness  ;  and  for  thirty 
days  they  are  to  wear  mournful  and  squalid  apparel,  neither  washing  them- 
eelves  nor  any  of  their  clothes.  Nothing  about  the  duration  of  mourning  is 
said  in  their  Law  ;  but  they  find  it  clearly  defined  there  notwithstanding.  It 
is  written  in  Amos,  "  I  will  turn  your  feasts  into  mourning  ;"  [Ch.  viii.  10  :] 
hence  they  conclude,  as  the  duration  of  a  festival  was  seven  days,  that  the 
duration  of  the  deepest  mourning  must  be  the  same.  But  the  thirt3'-days  neg- 
lect of  their  persons,  a  part  of  which  consists  in  not  combing  or  di-essing  their 
hair,  depends  for  its  sanction  on  Cabbalistic  ingenuity.  Aaron  and  his  two 
remaining  sons,  when  his  two  eldest  were  struck  dead,  were  commanded 
"  not  to  uncover  their  heads ;"  [Lev.  x.  6;]  that  is,  the  Rabbins  say,  not  to 
clip  their  hair,  but  to  let  it  grow.  But  how  does  this  point  to  the  number  of 
thirty  days.'  Because  the  Nazarite  was  also  commanded  to  let  his  hair  grow, 
and  prohibited  frovi  clipping  it,  all  the  days  of  his  vow;  [Num.  vi.  5  ;]  and 
this  was  a  period  of  thirty  days.  How  do  they  gather  this,  when  still  the 
number  is  not  mentioned  ?  From  its  being  added,  [ver.  8,]  "  All  the  days  of 
his  separation,  he  shall  be  holy  to  the  Lord  ;"  where  the  concluding  word 
^',*^^,  when  its  letters  are  reckoned  as  numerals,  makes  the  number  30.  By 
plain  consequence,  then,  the  days  of  separation  were  thirty  ;  and  by  a  conse- 
quence equally  plain,  the  same  should  be  the  days  of  mourning  !:f 

Some  apology  may  seem  requisite  for  detaining  the  reader  so  long  among 
such  a  wilderness  of  absurdities  ;  which,  however,  cannot  fail  to  afford  him 
some  amusement :  but  when  the  object  was,  to  establish  a  tendency  to  cere- 
monial observances  as  belonging  to  the  national  character  of  the  Jews,  it  was 
necessary  to  produce  more  than  a  few  instances,  which  might  be  regarded  as 
isolated  and  accidental.  Enow,  surely,  have  now  been  given,  fully  to  prove 
our  position  :  Buxtorf  furnishes  a  great  number  more.  How  striking  a  com- 
ment do  they  afford  upon  the  Lord's  words  ;    "  Laying  aside  the  command- 

*  Cap.  .tx.wi.  +  Ca)>.  xixix.  ^  Cap.  ilii. 


lii  APPENDIX. 


NO.  VI. 


ment  of  God,  ye  hold  the  tradition  of  men,  as  the  washing  of  pots  and  cups  ; 
and  many  other  such  like  things  ye  do  !"  But,  as  observed  in  the  Lecture, 
"  this  disposition  of  that  people  to  neglect  essentials  and  to  cleave  to  formalities, 
if  it  disqualified  them  from  constituting  an  interior  church  themselves,  emi- 
nently adapted  them  to  be  made  the  representatives  of  such  a  church,  and  to 
have  their  affairs  overruled,  so  as  to  be  subservient  to  such  representation." 
And  surely  the  indubitable  fact,  that  such  was  their  distinguishing  genius, 
affords,  by  itself,  an  argument  of  no  inconsiderable  weight,  that  the  designs  of 
Providence  in  selecting  them  from  all  other  nations,  were  purely  those  which 
we  have  endeavoured  in  this  Lecture  to  develope,  and  were  not  connected 
vWth  any  partial  favour  to  them,  but  solely  regarded  the  general  benefit  of  all 
future  generations  of  mankind. 


No.  VI.  (Page  223.} 


Critical  Examination  of  Jephthah's  Vow. 
Judges  xj.  3L 

As  some  modern  writers  have  thought  they  have  succeeded  in  clearly  estab- 
lishing the  more  pleasing  view  of  the  fate  of  Jephthah's  daughter  from  the 
very  words  of  the  vow  ;  and  I  have  nevertheless  stated,  that  I  think  that  the 
most  unforced  inference  from  the  language  of  the  original,  and  from  the  his- 
tory in  general,  is,  that  the  sacrifice  took  place  ;  it  seems  necessary  to  give  a 
view  of  the  progress  and  present  state  of  opinion  upon  the  subject,  and  criti- 
cally to  examine  the  various  renderings  which  have  been  proposed. 

Four  different  senses,  in  ages  distant  from  each  other,  have  been  given  to 
the  words  of  the  Hebrew  original. 

1.  The  first  is  this  :  "  Whosoevkr  cometh  out  of  the  doors  of  my  house 
to  meet  me,  when  I  return  in  peace  from  the  children  of  Ammon,  shall  be  the 
Lord's,  and  I  will  offer  iiim  up  for  a  burnt-offering."  ^ 

2.  The  second  is  that  adopted  in  the  text  of  the  common  English  Bible  ; 
"  Whatsoever  cometh  out  of  the  doors  of  my  house,  &c. — shall  be  the 
Lord's,  AND  I  will  offer  it  up  for  a  burnt-offering." 

3.  The  third  is  that  given  in  the  margin  of  the  English  Bible  :  "  Whatso- 
ever cometh  out  of  the  doors  of  my  house,  «tc. — shall  be  the  Lord's,  or  I 
will  offer  it  up  for  a  burnt-offering." 

4.  The  fourth  was  proposed  about  sixty  years  ago  by  Dr.  Randolph,  and  is 
this  :  "  Whosoever  cometh  out  from  the  doors  of  my  house,  «fcc. — shall  be 
the  Lord's  ;  and  I  will  o^er  (to)  Him  [namely,  the  Lord,]  a  burnt-offering." 

These  shall  be  called,  in  the  following  remarks,  the  first,  second,  third,  and 
foiirlh  renderings  or  translations. 


NO.  VI.  APPENDIX.  liii 

I.  How  the  transaction  was  undprstood  by  the  Jews  while  Hebrew  was 
their  vernacular  hinguage,  it  is  impossible  to  determine  ;  but  certain  it  is,  that, 
in  the  most  remote  period  to  which  our  means  of  ascertaining  their  sentiments 
extend,  they  understood  the  vow  in  the  first  of  the  above  senses  :  tJiey  be- 
lieved that  a  human  sacrifice  was  intended  by  Jephthah  from  the  beginning, 
and  that  his  daughter  was  actually  put  to  death.  Thus  the  Greek  version 
commonly  called  that  of  the  Septuagint,  which  was  made  by  Jews  between 
two  and  three  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era,  gives  the  pronouns  in 
the  masculine  gender  :  o  iKTropivofAivo;  oc  a.v  t^ek^n  m  lav  ^-vfuv  tk  cikov  yuss, — 
f(THt  Tx  x.vpiou^  Kttt  ctvoiira)  autov  oKcx.:t.v^a>just :  of  which  the  first  rendering 
given  above  is  an  exact  translation  in  English.  With  this,  also,  the  Latin 
Vulgate,  supposed  to  have  been  made  from  the  Septuagint  in  the  first  cen- 
tury, and  corrected  by  Jerome  from  the  Hebrew  in  the  fourth,  completely 
coincides. 

Josephus,  the  next  ancient  Jewish  testimony,  gives  a  sense  agreeable  to  our 
SECOND  RENDERING,  or  that  of  the  text  of  the  English  Bible  :  he  makes  Jeph- 
thah promise  "  to  offer  in  sacrifice  what  living  creature  soever  should  first 
meet  him,"  and  he  affirms  that  the  vow,  in  that  sense,  was  executed  by  hiui  : 
"  he  sacrificed  his  daughter  as  a  biirnt-ofl^ering,  offering  such  an  oblation  as 
was  neither  conformable  to  the  law  nor  acceptable  to  God."*  The  same  sense 
is  given  in  the  Targum,  or  Chaldee  Paraphrase,  whicii  was  written  later. 
One  or  other  of  these  two  renderings,  was  received,  for  many  ages,  by  all  who 
read  the  Scriptures,  both  Jews  and  Christians. 

The  celebrated  Rabbi,  David  Kimchi,  who  flourished  in  the  twelfth  century, 
seems  to  have  been  the  first  who  proposed  the  third  translation,  or  that 
given  in  the  margin  of  the  English  Bible.  This  has  been  since  adopted  by 
many  commentators  and  translators  :  and  the  discussions  on  the  subject  were 
for  a  long  time  confined  to  the  question,  which  of  these  two  renderings,  (our 
second  and  third,)  should  be  preferred.  The  arguments  pro  and  con,  may  bo 
seen  at  large  in  Poole's  Synopsis,  and  in  many  other  works  :  but  as  a  speci- 
men of  the  nature  of  tlie  discussions  which  are  included  in  this  inquiry,  and 
as  a  remarkable  instance  of  the  great  obscurity  which  hangs  over  the  whole 
question,  we  will  give  some  observations  of  jVoldius  on  the  subject. 

This  learned  writer,  in  his  ConcordanticB  Particularum  Ebrmo-Chaldai- 
carum,  among  the  instances  in  which  the  Hebrew  particle  \  which  commonly 
signifies  and,  bears  the  sense  of  or,  adduces  this  vow  of  Jephthah;  on  which 
he  adds  this  note.  Kimchi  in  hoc  loco,  &c. — "  Kimchi  on  the  place,  and  in 
his  jlZ/c/t/oi,  says,  j^^j^'l  &c. — It  shall  be  sacred  to  Jehovah,  if  it  be  not  fit  for 
sacrifice  ;  or  /  lodl  offer  it  as  a  sacrifice,  if  it  he  fit  for  sacrifice.  This  is  a  right 
distinction  :  for  many  things  might  be  consecrated  to  God,  (Lev.  x.wii.  2  to  9, 
11, 14,  16  ;)  hut  only  these  five  might  be  sacrificed  ;  viz.  -oxen,  sheep,  goats, 
doves,  and  pigeons.  (Lev.  i.  2,  10,  14.)  The  meaning  then  is,  that  the  daugh- 
ter of  Jephthah,  as  she  could  not  lawfully  be  sacrificed,  was  consecrated  to  the 

*  Ant.  B.  v,  Ch.  viL  §  10. 


liv  APPENDIX.  NO.  VI. 

peculiar  worship  of  God. — Whether  or  not  she  was  put  to  death,  is,  however, 
a  question  of  great  difficulty.  Capellus,  in  his  Diatribe  on  Jephthah's  vow, 
contends  for  the  affirmative :  because  it  is  said,  (Lev.  xxvii.  29,)  '  Every  thing 
devoted  (Cherevi)  shall  surely  be  put  to  death  :'  from  which  h^  gathers,  be- 
cause (ver.  28)  men,  as  well  as  other  things  in  our  power  are  mentioned  as  lia- 
ble to  be  devoted  by  Cherem,  that  children  might  lawfully  be  devoted  and 
put  to  death  by  their  parents,  and  servants  by  their  masters.  A  harsh  and  un- 
reasonable a.ssertion  !  nor  is  it  much  softened  by  Hachspan  and  Mairnonides, 
who  only  allow  this  right  to  be  possessed  bj'  the  Israelites  over  their  Canaan- 
itish  slaves.  For  though  the  servitude  of  these  was  perpetual,  and  they  were 
not,  like  Hebrew  servants,  to  be  emancipated  in  the  seventh  year  or  in  the 
year  of  jubilee ;  yet  they  were  under  the  conmion  protection  of  the  laws, 
which  provided  that  they  should  not  be  ill-treated,  (Ex.  xxii.  21,  and  xxiii.  9, 
Lev.  xix.  33,  Deut.  x.  19.  Zech.  vii.  10  ;)  and  even  pronounced  a  curse  against 
those  who  should  oppress  them  :  (Deut.  xxvii.  19 ;  cowp.  Mai.  iii.  5,  and  Num. 
XV.  16,  29:)  hence  the  Jews  could  not  assume  over  them,  much  less  over  their 
own  children,  the  right  of  life  and  death  :  and  the  Scriptures  afford  no  ex- 
ample of  their  doing  so.  As  to  the  passage,  Lev.  xxvii.  28,  29,  by  which 
Capellus  defends  his  opinion,  Mairnonides  rightly  distinguishes  between  the 
Cherem.  of  God  and  the  Cherem  of  the  priests,  (Numb,  xviii.  14,)  which  Leus- 
den  more  clearly  designates  as  the  destructive  and  the  common  Cherem,  The 
form,er  hind  includes  such  things  as  were  either  to  be  put  to  death  in  honour 
of  God,  as  clean  animals  for  sacrifice,  (Lev.  xxvii.  28.)  or  to  be  destroyed  as 
abominable,  (Num.  xxi.  2,  3;  Deut.  vii.  20 ;  Jos.  vi.  7,  18,  and  vii.  12,  13  ;  1 
Sam.  XV.  3 ;  1  Ks.  xx.  42  ;  Is.  xxxiv.  5  and  43  ;  Zech.  xiv.  11 ;  Mai.  iv.  6 ;  Ezr. 
X.  18  :  This  is  called  Anathema,  Rom.  ix.  3,  1  Cor.  xii.  3  ;  Rev.  xxii.  3.)  The 
latter  hind  includes  whatever  was  destined  to  sacred  uses,  never  more  to  return 
to  its  former  owner,  (Lev.  xxvii.  28;  Num.  xviii.  4  ;  1  Sam.  ii.  &c.)  It  is  in  vain 
that  Capellus  adduces  the  words,  Every  Cherem,  [Lev.  xxvii.  29,]  to  support 
his  opinion  ;  what  is  meant  is.  Every  destructive  Cherem.  Thus  it  is  said 
[Num.  xviii.  14,]  '  Every  Cherem  shall  be  given  to  the  priests ;'  and  yet 
that  which  was  killed  must  be  excepted  ;  viz.  that  which  was  anathema, — the 
hostile  and  the  sacrificial  Cherem,  &c. — for  this  being  taken  out  of  existence, 
cannot  be  said  to  be  given  to  the  priests.*  Universal  propositions  are  not  al- 
ways absolute,  but  the  subject  must  always  be  such  as  suits  the  predicate.  The 
execution  of  Jephthah's  vow  was  postponed  fi)r  two  months:  and  who  can  be- 
lieve, in  all  this  time,  even  if  the  peoj)le  did  not  interfere,  as  they  did  in  the 
similar  case  of  Saul  and  Jonathan  ;  (1  Sam.  xiv.  44,  35 ;)  that  the  priests  would 
not  have  prevented  the  perpetration  of  such  a  parricide  .-'  which  they  might 
have  done  by  a  simple  statement  of  the  law  upon  the  subject."  Having  ofler- 
ed  these  arguments,  ■*vifli  so  much  appearance  of  conviction,  against  the  idea 
of  the  execution,   our  learned  author   here  pauses,   and   then   proceeds  thus  : 

*  These  two  kinds  of  Cherem  are  better  illustrated  in  Dr,  Randolpli's  discussion  of 
the  subject. 


NO.  VI.  APPENDIX.  \V 

''  These  were  our  first  tliouglits  upon  this  question  ;  but  upon  re-ex;iniii)iiif^ 
them,  I  am  ahiiost  brought  to  follow  the  reasons  advanced  on  the  other  sidtf, 
and  to  acknowledge  the  actual  immolation.  For  beside  lliat  this  is  steadily 
affirmed  by  so  many  Fathers,  Rabbins,  and  Divines  ;  1  do  not  see  how  Jeph- 
thah,  who  was  a  pious  and  prudent  man,  could  have  been  so  deeply  moved 
(ver.  35,)  for  the  mere  consecration  of  his  daughter  to  the  service  of  God,  if 
she  was  to  suffer  nothing  worse.  But  further:  we  never  read  of  any  such  cus- 
tom among  the  Jews,  as  that  of  vowing  perpetual  virginity  :  on  the  contrary, 
to  be  childless  was  esteemed  by  them  a  reproach  :  (1  Sam.  i.  10, 11,  Luke  i.  25  :) 
wherefore  this  was  what  the  daughter  of  Jephthah  lamented  (ver.  37).  Nor 
do  we  read  that  females  ever  undertook  the  Nazariteship  ;  and  yet  even  the 
Nazarites  were  not  restricted  to  celibacy  :*  as  may  be  seen  in  the  cases  of 
Sampson  and  Samuel,  [who  were  dedicated  to  God  from  their  birth.]  Finally, 
the  long  continued  custom  of  an  annual  assembly  and  lamentation  of  the  vir- 
gins in  all  Israel,  seems  to  demand  a  more  serious  origin  than  a  young  wo- 
man's remaining  unmarried.  And  suppose  Jephthah's  wife,  or  some  other 
married  person  of  his  family,  had  come  out  to  meet  him  ;  how  would  de- 
votion to  celibacy  then  have  taken  place  .'  Such  instances  of  living  single  for 
a  pious  purpose  as  are  mentioned  Luke  ii.  37  and  1  Cor.  vii.  5,  were  either  not 
enforced  by  a  vow,  or  were  for  a  time  only  :  but  we  no  where  read  of  vows  of 
virginity  ;  much  less  of  parents  making  such  vows  for  their  children.  And  the 
separation  of  David's  concubines  (2.  Sam.  xx.  3,)  was  not  made  in  pursuancerof 
any  vow,  but  on  account  of  the  incest  by  which  they  had  been  defiled,  and  in- 
dependently of  their  own  will ;  whereas  all  vows  must  be  free.  From  all 
vrhich  it  will  follow,  that  Jephthah's  daughter  was  sacrificed." 

Tiiese  are  the  reasons  which  led  Noldius  to  relinquish  his  first  sentiments  : 
but  whoever  wishes  to  see  a  very  strong  defence  of  the  opinion  that  Jephthah's 
daughter  was  actually  immolated,  by  a  recent  author,  should  consult  the  cele- 
brated IMichaelis's  Covimentaries  on  the  Laws  of  Moses,  by  Dr.  Smith,  vol.  ii. 
p.  270  to  279  and  286  to  290.  For  the  best  modern  defence  of  the  contrary 
opinion,  see  Dr.  Randolph's  Sermon,  entitled  Jephthah's  Vote  Considered  :  in 
which  he  proposes  our  fourth  translation  :  which  we  are  now  to  notice. 

Dr.  Randolph  makes  Jephthah's  vow  to  include  two  things  ;  first,  the  conse- 
cration to  the  peculiar  service  of  the  Lord  of  some  person  ;  and,  secondly,  the 
offering  to  Him,  as  a  burnt-sacrifice,  of  some  clean  animal.  The  foundiition 
of  his  translation  is  a  remark  of  Buxtoif's  in  his  Thesau.  Gram.  L.  ii.  c.  17  ; 
where,  having  explained  the  construction  of  the  Verb  with  the  affixc^d  Pro- 
noun, he  adds,  Z)fjti(jrMe,  &c.  "This  construction  often  gives  rise  to  a  con- 
tracted and  elliptical  form  of  speech  ;  the  affixed  pronoun  serving  instead  of  a 
dative,  accusative,  or  ablative,  with  a  preposition  prefixed."  Dr.  Randolph 
therefore  supposes  the   affix,  ']^,   which   is  joined   to  the  verb  of  offering, 

*  This  argument  is  met  by  Dr.  Randolph  with  an  observation  which  is  certainly 
of  considerable  weight  :  He  remarks,  that  devotement  of  females,  diiferently  from 
that  of  males,  must  have  included  abstinence  from  marriage,  because  the  latter  ea- 
gagement  would  abrogate  the  former,  and  the  domestic  duties  of  the  wife  and 
mother  would  be  incompatible  with  a  constant  attendance  on  the  sanctuary. 


Ivi  APPE?{DIX.  NO.  VI. 

• 

( in*n^*!^l^rT"l)  ^^  ^®  '*®'"®  "^^^  instead  of  tlie  regular  pronoun  and  preposition 
*U  and  construes  it  accordingly  as  a  dative,  referring  it,  as  its  antecedent,  to 
Jehovah  not  to  lohutsoever  or  whosoever  ;  which  gives  the  sense  stated  above. 
This  thought  so  pleased  Bishop  Lowth,that,  in  his  Isaiah,  he  speaks  of  itthu8: 
"  A  late  happy  application  of  this  grammatical  remark  to  that  much  disputed 
passage,  has  perfectly  cleared  up  a  difficulty,  which  for  two  thousand  year3 
had  puzzled  all  the  translators  and  expositors,  had  given  occasion  to  disserta- 
tions without  number,  and  caused  endless  disputes  among  the  learned,  on  the 
question,  whether  Jephthah  sacrificed  his  daughter,  or  not :  in  which  both  par- 
ties have  been  equally  ignorant  of  the  meaning  of  the  place,  of  the  state  of  the 
fact,  and  of  the  very  terms  of  the  vow  :  which  now  at  last  has  been  cleared  up 
beyond  all  doubt  by  my  very  learned  friend  Dr.  Randolph,  Margaret  Professor 
of  Divinity  at  Oxford,  in  his  Sermon,"*  i&c. 

II.  Such  being  the  history  of  the  four  renderings,  what  is  the  present  state 
of  opinion  on  the  subject  ? 

Atler  such  a  commendation,  by  such  a  judge,  in  a  book  so  well  known,  of 
Dr.  Randolph's  explanation  ;  and  after  this  had  been  adopted  also  in  another 
well  known  work,  Parkhurst's  Hebrew  Lexicon ;  one  would  have  expected  to 
find  it  received  into  all  later  comments  on  the  Scriptures  published  in  this 
country  :  yet  this  is  far  from  being  the  fact.  Even  Home,  who  in  the  Appen- 
dix to  the  first  Volume  of  his  "  Introduction,"  offers  short  answers  to  the  prin- 
cipal infidel  objections,  though  he  mentions  Dr.  Randolph's  Sermon  in  a  note, 
takes  no  notice  of  his  solution  of  the  difficulty,  but  gives  an  extract  from  Dr. 
Hales,  who  follows  the  third  interpretation  ;  being  on«  of  those  which  are  so 
contemptuously  spoken  of  by  Dr.  Lowth.  Among  the  modern  British  annota- 
tors  on  the  Bible,  D'Oyley  and  Mant,  Brown  (last  edition  by  Raffles,)  and 
Reeve,  also  advocate  the  third  rendering.  Scott  honestly  rejects  this  as  not 
supported  by  the  natural  meaning  of  the  words,  and  strenuously  contends  for 
the  second  rendering  and  the  actual  sacrifice.  Dr.  A.  Clarke,  after  appearing 
to  favour  the  third,  abides,  without  naming  Dr.  Randolph,  by  his,  or  Xhe fourth 
translation  :  but  as  he  gives  it,  it  is  adapted  to  have  but  little  weight ;  since  he 
does  not  notice  the  grammatical  argument  afforded  by  Buxtorf,  which  is  its 
chief  support ;  and,  provided  the  Hebrew  pronoun  may  be  translated  by  the 
English  him,  he  seems  to  think  it  of  no  consequence,  whether  that  him  answers 
to  a  dative  or  an  accusative.  Indeed,  he  here  exhibits  a  strange  hallucination, 
but  little  in  accordance  with  the  high  attainments  in  Biblical  literature,  for 
which  some  give  him  credit.!  Randolph's,  or  our  fourth  rendering,  is  ex- 
pressly given  by  Hewlett  alone.     What  is  remarkable    enough,   D'Oyley  and 

*  Note  on  Ch.  xlii.  16. 
t  He  supposes  that,  instead  of  the  affix  ')^,  it  might  originally  have  been  ^']^  • 
— that  is,  the  nominative  instead  of  the  accusative  !  But  for  this,  he  says,  there  is 
no  absolute  need,  "  because  the  pronoun  ')1^,  in  the  above  verse,  may  with  as  much 
{jropriety  be  translated  him,  as  it."  True  ;  but  ^^i*^,  understood  of  a  person,  must 
be  translated  he  ! 


NO.  VI. 


APPENDIX.  Ivii 


Mant  give  the  practical  reflections  with  which  Randolph  concludes  his  sermon, 
but  take  no  notice  of  his  explanation.  Altogether,  it  is  evident,  either  that  Dr. 
Randolph's  view  is  hitherto  but  very  partially  known,  or  that  it  has  met  with 
but  very  partial  approbation:  I  have  not,  however,  seen  any  thing  urged  ex- 
pressly against  it. 

III.  Having  stated  the  four  renderings,  their  history,  and  the  present  state  of 
opinion  respecting  them,  we  will  give  a  brief  estimate  of  the  probability  of 
each,  as  favoured  or  otherwise  by  the  grammatical  construction  of  the  vow,  and 
by  the  thoughts  which  Jephthah  must  have  had  in  his  mind  when  he  uttered  it. 
The  FIRST  and  most  ancient  rendering,  or  that  of  the  Septuagint  and  the 
Vulgate,  which  gives  it,  "  Whosoever  cometh  out  of  the  doors  of  my  house, 
(fee. — shall  be  the  Lord's,  and  I  will  offer  him  up  for  a  burnt-offering  ;"  is  liable 
to  no  grammatical  objection  whatever,  but  is  that  which  the  words,  if  they 
alone  be  considered,  must  naturally  present :  yet  as  it  is  attended  with  the  in- 
surmountable objection  of  supposing  that  Jephthah  had  a  human  sacrifiqe  in 
his  thoughts  when  he  made  the  vow,  it  has  now,  I  believe,  no  advocates:  it 
found  one,  however,  not  nmch  more  than  a  century  ago,  in  Seb.  Schmidt,  who, 
in  his  Latin  Translation  of  the  Bible,  gives  the  passage  thus:  "  Exiens,  qui 
exibit  extra  januas  domus  meae,  «fcc. — erit  Jehovae,  et  ofFeram  illum  (in)  holo- 
caustum." 

The  SECOND  RENDERING,  which  may  be  called  that  of  the  translators  of  the 
English  Bible,  being  adopted  by  them  in  their  text, — "  Whatsoever  cometh 
forth  of  the  doors  of  my  house,  &c. — shall  be  the  Lord's,  and  I  will  offer  it  for 
a  burnt-offering  ;"  is  in  like  manner  liable  to  no  grammatical  objection :  but  it 
supposes  Jephthah's  thoughts,  when  he  made  the  vow,  to  have  been  such  as  it 
was  scarcely  possible  that  they  could  have  been.  It  makes  him  intend  to  offer 
in  sacrifice  the  first  living  creature  that  came  out  of  his  house  to  meet  him 
when  he  returned  in  peace  from  the  children  of  Amnion :  but  what  living 
creature  could  he  conceive  most  likely  to  come  to  congratulate  him  on  his 
victory  ?  a  human  being  or  an  animal .'  Could  he  have  thought  of  any  but  a 
human  being  .'  and,  among  human  beings,  who  so  likely  as  the  one  he  best 
loved  .'  Or  if,  by  some  strange  fatality,  this  never  entered  his  head,  could  he 
think  it  probable  that  any  animal  that  could  be  lawfully  sacrificed  would  come 
forth  to  him  '  Had  he  a  sheep,  a  goat,  or  an  ox,  so  tame,  attached,  and  in- 
telligent, as  to  run  to  fawn  upon  him  with  joy  on  his  return  .''  As  has  been 
remarked  by  others,  the  only  animal  likely  to  do  this,  would  be  a  dog  :  but 
this  was  an  animal  that  could  not  be  offered  in  sacrifice. 

The  THIRD  rendering,  or  that  of  Kimchi, — •'  Whatsoever  cometh  forth 
of  the  doors  of  my  house,  &c. — shall  be  the  Lord's,  or  I  will  offer  it  for  a  burnt- 
offering  ;"  is  liable  to  a  very  important  grammatical  objection.  It  is  certain 
that  the  particle  ^  is  never  used  to  disjoin  things  so  completely  as  this  transla- 
tion supposes.  It  might,  indeed,  easily  be  shewn,  that  the  particle  always 
retains  its  proper  meaning  as  a  copulative  ;  and  that,  even  when  used  dis- 
junctively, it  still  connects  the  words  to  which  it  is  joined  with  some  common 
affirmation  ;  quite  the  contrary  of  which  would  be  the  case  if  it  were  used 
disjunctively  here.  (See  Gusset.  Comm.  Ling.  Ehr.)  Most  critics  have  there- 
fore felt  that  this  rendering  is  extremely  forced  and  harsh,  and  have  only  ac- 
quiesced in  it  to  got  rid  of  what  they  esteemed  a  greater  difficulty-  It  also 
H 


Iviii  APPENDIX,  NO.   VI. 

makes  the  second  clause  of  the  vow  entirely  unnecessary  ;  for  if  Jephthah 
meant  to  say,  that  whatsoever  came  out  of  his  house  should  be  consecrated  to 
the  Lord  in  such  manner  as  was  suitable  to  its  nature,  this  is  fully  conveyed  in 
the  first  clause  ;  and  the  addition  of  the  second,  separated  from  the  former  by  an 
OR,  instead  of  helping  to  determine  his  meaning,  is  of  no  use  but  to  perplex  it. 

Finally,  the  fourth,  or  Dr.  Randolph's  rendering,  *'  Whosoever  cometh 
out  of  the  doors  of  my  house,  &c. — shall  be  the  Lord's,  and  I  will  oifer  (to) 
HIM  a  burnt-offering  ;"  seems  to  come  within  the  rules  of  grammar,  and  it 
iupposes  nothing  that  must  necessarily  have  been  foreign  to  Jephthah's 
thoughts  :  it  meets  the  expectation  he  must  naturally  have  had,  that  a  human 
being  would  be  the  first  to  come  to  meet  him  ;  and  when  he  resolved  to  con- 
secrate that  person  to  the  Lord,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  he  should  propose  to 
accompany  the  ceremony  with  a  burnt-sacrifice.  Dr.  R.'s  version  is,  never- 
theless, attended  with  considerable  difficulties  ;  and  as  I  have  no  where  seen 
any  critical  remarks  upon  it,  I  will  offer  the  following. 

Although  Dr.  R.'s  ti-anslation  appears  to  be  justified  by  the  usage  of  the 
sacred  writers,  it  certainly  does  not  follow  their  common  usage  ;  nor,  though 
probably  the  true  rendering,  is  it  one  which  any  Hebraist  would  have  thought 
of,  if  not  driven,  by  the  necessity  of  the  case,  to  seek  for  a  meaning  different 
from  that  first  presented  by  the  words.  He,  accordingly,  candidly  acknow- 
ledges that  it  is  not  without  dilBculties  ;  and  he  chiefly  relies  upon  moral  con- 
eiderations  for  its  support.  These,  of  course,  lend  equal  support  to  the  third 
or  Kimchi's  rendering,  and  are  much  the  same  as  the  advocates  of  that  ren- 
dering usually  offer  :  but  against  that,  the  grammatical  objections  are  so  great, 
that  (for  this  reason,  I  suppose,)  Dr.  R.  has  thought  it  unworthy  of  the  least 
notice.  For  his  own,  he  offers,  in  addition  to  his  moral  arguments,  two 
philological  ones  ;  the  value  of  which  I  will  endeavour  to  estimate. 

The  first,  as  already  noticed,  is  founded  upon  an  observation  of  Buxtorf 's. 
But  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  this  is  given,  not  as  a  grammatical  rule,  but  as  an 
occasional  exception.  The  Rule  is,  "  Affixed  Pronouns  belong  properly  to 
none  but  active  Verbs  ;  and  they  denote  the  person  of  the  patient,  which  those 
Verbs  express  by  the  accusative  case."  They  are,  in  fact,  precisely  in  the 
same  predicament,  as  an  accusative  case  governed  by  an  active  verb  in  Latin. 
As  then  the  construction  is  a  deviation  from  the  regular  rule,  Buxtorf,  after 
giving  some  instances  of  it,  guards  it  v/ith  this  caution  :  "  These  and  similar 
instances,  Kimchi  observes  in  his  MlcJdol,  are  to  be  observed  and  noted  by 
use  ;  but  all  verbs,  promiscuously,  are  not  to  be  drawn  to  this  construction. 
The  Hebrew  language  does  indeed  frequently  use  this  concise  and  contracted 
naode  of  expression,  where  the  sense,  notwithstanding,  remains  clear  :  but 
great  care  must  be  taken  lest  the  style  be  rendered  harsh,  or  ambiguous,  and 
lest  any  violence  be  offered  to  the  meaning.  It  must  only  be  resorted  to 
where  the  language  loses  by  it  nothing  of  its  clearness  and  elegance."  Here 
the  irregularity  is  itself  limited  by  a  rule  ;  and  if  the  rule  be  accurate, — if  the 
affixed  pronoun  is  never  used  for  the  regular  dative  where  it  would  create 
harshness  or  ambiguity  ;  then,  certainly,  it  cannot  be  so  used  in  the  words 
of  Jephthah  ;  where,  if  it  is,  the  ambiguhy  it  occasions  is  such,  that  this  acute 
grammarian  himself,  who  first  explained  this  construction,  never  suspected  its 
•xistence  here.  It  is  remarkable,  also,  that  among  the  instances  of  this  con- 
otruction  collflctcd  by  Buxtorf  and  Parkhur^t,  are   none   in   which   it   attendu 


NO.  vr.  -  APPENDIX.  lix 

verbs  of  offering  or  sacrificing.  Such  verbs  often  have  the  pronoun  affixed 
to  denote  the  thing  offered,  but  not  another  example  can  be  found,  in  which  it 
is  used  for  the  Being  to  loiiom  the  offering  is  made. 

The  second  philological  argument  urged  by  Dr.  Randolph  in  favour  of  his 
translation,  and  niurli  insisted  on  by  Parkhurst  and  A.  Clarke,  is,  the  omission 
of  (he  preposition  S  before  the  word  for  burnt -offering. — "nS^T^-  "  I^  Jeph- 
thali  had  meant,"  says  Mr.  Parkhurst,  "  as  translated,  /  will  offer  it  for  a 
burnt-offering,  U,  for,  ought  to  have  been  prefixed  to  *.«U*»»,  as  in  Gen.  xxii. 
2,  13."  It  is  extraordinary  that  the  autiior  of  a  Hebrew  Lexicon,  who  must 
have  been  familiar  with  every  word  in  the  Bible,  should  say  that  there  ought 
to  be  a  ^  in  this  place,  when  there  are  many  similar  instances  of  its  absence. 
In  the  writings  of  Moses,  indeed,  it  seems  to  be  commonly,  perhaps  always, 
used  ;  but  seldom  in  the  other  books  ;  I  believe,  never.  Thus  (1  Sam.  vi.  14,) 
we  read,  that  when  the  ark  was  sent  home  by  the  Philistines,  the  men  of 
Bethshemesh  offered  the  cows  (for)  a  burnt-offering, — !nSy>  (without  the  S 
prefixed,) — to  the  Lord.  In  the  next  chapter  (ver.  9,)  we  have,  in  the  mar- 
ginal reading  called  the  Keri,  which  is  evidently  right,  the  very  same  con- 
etruction  as  in  Jephthah's  vow  :  the  affixed  pronoun, — \'^, — is  joined  to  the 
verb  to  express  the  thing  offered,  and  the  U  is  omitted  before  the  noun  : 
"  Then  Samuel  took  a  sucking  lamb,  and  offered  it  (for)  a  burnt-offering 
(ta^'^^**  nSv^l)  ^'''o''^  to  the  Lord."  For  other  examples,  see  Isa.  il. 
16,  and  jer.  xix.  5.  But  in  2  Kings  iii.  27,  is  a  case  exactly  parallel  to  this  of 
Jephthah.  What  Jephthah,  according  to  the  most  direct  import  of  his  words 
and  the  Septuagint  rendering  of  them,  is  supposed  to  have  promised  to  do, 
the  king  of  Moab,  when  sore  pressed  by  the  kings  of  Israel,  Judah  and  Edom, 
is  affirmed  to  have  done  ;  and  in  precisely  the  same  words  joined  in  precisely 
the  same  construction.  Of  the  king  of  Moab  it  is  said,  "  Then  took  he  his 
eldest  son,  that  should  have  reigned  in  his  stead,  and  offered  him  (for)  a  burnt- 
offering  upon  the  wall."  The  words  that  express,  and  offered  him  (for)  a 
burnt-offering,  are  |-^^^  ^^h^^)  =  Jephthah's  are  |-,t,^^  ^j-j»^^»l,^»pj^  . 
the  only  difference  is  in  the  mood,  tense  and  person  of  the  verb,  and  a  com- 
mon variety  in  the  spelling  of  the  noun  :  the  same  affix, — ^n, — is  used  in  both ; 
in  both  the  ^  is  omitted. 

It  must  now,  I  think,  be  evident,  that  although  Dr.  Randolph's  interpreta- 
tion may  possibl)'  be  correct,  its  credit  must  stand  entirely  upon  the  strength 
of  his  first  grammatical  argument,  the  applicability  of  which  to  the  case  is, 
we  have  seen,  not  indisputable  -.  his  second,  we  find,  is  destitute  of  any  va- 
lidity whatsoever. 

And  it  is  no  less  evident,  that,  afler  all  the  labours  of  the  learned  to  fix  a 
sense  upon  Jephthah's  vow  which  should  exclude  the  idea  that  a  human  sacri- 
fice was  either  intended  by  it  or  might  be  its  unintended  result,  nothing  satia- 
factory  has  been  produced.  It  is  still  undeniable,  that  the  old  common  trans- 
lation, or  rather  the  older  one  of  the  Septuagint,  is  that  which  naturally  flows 
from  the  words,  if  taken  in  their  regular  construction.  Certain  it  is,  that  if 
Jephthah  had  spoken  English,  and  had  said,  "  Whosoever  coraRth  out  of  the 
doors  of  my  house,  &c. — shall  be  the  Lord's,  and  I  will  offer  him  up  for  ft 
bumt-offering  ;"  and  these  words  had  been  translated  from  English  into  He- 
brew ;  they  could  not  otherwise  have  been  exactly  rendered  than  by  the  very 
Tvord?*  which  now  «tftnd  m  rh^  H»»hrpw  Itiblw. 


Ix  APPENDIX.  NO.  VII. 

Upon  the  whole,  then,  I  think,  it  will  be  admitted,  that  the  assertion  in  the 
Lecture  is  fully  made  out,  "  that  the  most  unforced  inference  from  the  lan- 
guage of  the  original,  and  from  the  history  in  general,  is,  that  the  sacrifice 
took  place."  But  as,  nevertheless,  there  are  other  considerations  which 
render  it  in  the  highest  degree  improbable  that  such  a  sacrifice  did  take  place, 
it  seems  to  be  reasonable  to  conclude,  that  the  letter  is  so  framed  as  appa« 
rently  to  affirm  it,  because,  otherwise,  the  subjects  treated  of  in  the  spiritual 
sense,  for  tlie  sake  of  which,  pre-eminently,  the  letter  is  constructed,  could  not 
have  been  so  fully  represented.  How  important  then  does  the  doctrine  of  a 
spiritual  sense  become,  as  affording  the  only  key  to  a  satisfactory  solution  of 
each  difficulties ! 


No.  VII.   (Page  399.) 


ArGCME5TS     rOR    THE     LiTERAL     INTERPRETATION     OF     THE    FIRST    fART    OF 

Genesis   considered. 

I  HAVE  stated  in  the  text  above,  that  the  regarding  of  the  early  part  of  Gene- 
sis as  a  pure  allegory,  solves  all  the  difficulties  attending  it,  and  is  itself  unat- 
tended by  any.  I  am  aware,  however,  that  difficulties  have  been  attempted  to 
be  raised  against  the  allegorical  interpretation  ;  but  the  arguments  by  which 
they  are  supported  appear  to  me  to  be  scarcely  deserving  of  the  least  conside- 
ration,— to  be  such  as  would  never  have  been  offered  but  in  behalf  of  a  cause 
altogether  indefensible.  We  will  here  notice  one  or  two  that  are  most 
insisted  on  ;  being  the  only  ones  I  have  seen  which  make  any  approach 
towards  plausibility. 

It  has  been  urged,  that  the  account  of  Adam  and  Eve,  and  of  the  other  an- 
tediluvian patriarchs,  is  referred  to  in  the  New  Testament  as  real.  But,  cer- 
tainly, nothing  is  any  where  said  of  them  which  is  not  as  applicable  to  the 
spiritual  as  to  the  literal  acceptation  of  the  history.  For  instance  :  When 
Paul  says,  "  that  as  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made 
alive,"*  the  meaning  is  the  same  if  we  understand  by  Adam  the  first  assem- 
blage of  human  beings  who  were  ever  formed  by  God  into  a  Church,  and  by 
the  departure  of  whom  from  the  primeval  integrity  man  at  this  day  inherits  a 
corrupt  nature,  as  if  we  understand  by  him  a  single  individual  :  indeed  it  is 
perfectly  evident,  that  the  Apostle  uses  the  term  Mam  for  man's  state  by 
nature.  In  like  manner,  when  the  genealogy  of  Jesus  Christ  is  carried  up  to 
Adam,  the  true  meaning  is  the  same,  whether  some  of  those  personages  be 
purely  allegorical  characters  or  not.  For  although  those  from  Abraham,  or 
perhaps  from  Eber,  were  individual  men  who  lived  as  such  in  the  world,  they 
still  were  all  representative  characters,  and  they  are  mentioned  in  that  gene- 
alogy to  denote  certain  species  of  human  minds,  or  certain  principles  which 
enter  into  the  composition  of  the  human  mind  :  these  then  are  enumerated  as 
ancestors,  according  to  the  flesh,  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  inform  us,  that 

•  1  Cor.  IT.  21. 


NO.  VIII.  APPENDIX.  Ixi 

in  his  luiman  nature  was  concentred  every  thing  belonging  to  tiie  human 
character,  from  highest  to  lowest,  from  first  to  last  ;  every  thing  that  had  ever 
entered  into  it,  from  the  primeval  times,  when  human  nature  appeared  in  its 
highest  integrity,  so  as  to  be  almost  a  pure,  abstract  essence,  till  the  age  in 
which  he  was  born  among  the  Jews,  who  then  were  the  most  gross  and  car- 
nalized race  that  ever  existed  :  thus  that  all  was  assumed,  and  all  was  redeem- 
ed, by  him. 

Of  the  same  nature  is  the  objection  of  Lord  Bolingbroke,  whose  statement 
is  quoted  by  one  of  the  advocates  of  the  literal  interpretation,  and  who  intro- 
duces it  thus :  "  Even  Lord  Bolingbroke,  (than  whom  Revelation  never  had  a 
more  subtle  opposer)  justly  rejects  the  allegorical  interpretation :  '  It  cannot 
(says  he)  be  admitted  by  Christians  ;  for  if  it  was,  what  would  become  of  that 
famous  text  [that  the  seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise  the  serpent's  head,] 
whereon  the  doctrine  of  our  redemption  is  founded  ?'  "*  But  the  writer  who 
has  adduced  this  as  authority,  while  he  declares  the  subtilty  of  this  opponent 
of  revelation,  has  here,  in  his  own  simplicity,  overlooked  the  snake  in  the 
grass.  The  passage  he  quotes  is  itself  an  example  of  the  subtilty  of  the  noble 
infidel ;  whose  object,  doubtless,  was,  to  clog  the  belief  of  Revelation  with  all 
possible  difficulties;  and  who  therefore  wished  to  shut  out  the  allegorical  in- 
terpretation of  this  part  of  the  Word  of  God,  because  he  saw  that,  if  this  were 
admitted,  no  solid  objection  would  lie  against  it.  Whether  the  woman  spoken 
of  in  this  prophecy  denote  the  first  female  of  the  human  race,  or  human  nature 
in  general  as  to  its  principle  of  affection  or  will,  it  equally  was  fulfilled  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  as  truly  the  seed  of  the  woman  in  the  spiritual  as 
in  the  literal  sense  of  the  words. 

In  another  instance  it  has  been  attempted  to  overturn  the  whole  doctrine  of 
allegorical  interpretation  by  a  quibble :  it  has  been  said,  that  "  a  figurative  fall 
would  require  only  a  figurative  redemption."  But  it  is  not  the  fall  itself  which 
the  allegorical  interpretation  represents  as  figurative,  but  the  description  of  it : 
the  fall  itself  it  considers  as  real,  and,  of  course,  that  it  required  a  real  re- 
demption. 

Altogether  then,  I  trust,  it  must  be  seen,  that  every  consideration  which  can 
be  brought  to  bear  upon  this  question,  confirms  the  fact,  that  the  history  in  thia 
part  of  Genesis  is  a  continued  allegory  ;  and  that  no  reasonable  objection  can 
be  raised  against  it. 


No.  VIII. 


Remarks  on  the  recent  Volume  of  Bampton  Lectures,  by  the  late 
Rev.  J.  J.  CoNVBEARE,  M.A. ;  AND  on  the  support  it  affords  to  the 
LEADING  Principle  of  the  present  Work. 

It  has  yielded  no  small  encouragement  to  the  Author  of  the  work  now  offered 
to  the  public,  to  see  issue  from  the  press  while  these  Lectures  were  in  it,  a 


*  Home's  Introd.  vol.  i.  p.  174. 


Ixii  APPEINDIX.  NO.   Till. 

volume  which,  to  a  considerable  extent,  espouses  and  most  ably  maintains  the 
same  argument ;  a  volume,  also,  the  character  and  intrinsic  merits  of  which 
must  recommend  it  to  a  large  and  influential  body  of  readers :  whilst  it  can 
hardly  fail  to  generate,  in  the  minds  of  many  who  peruse  it,  ideas  upon  the 
spiritual  interpretation  of  Scripture,  which  nothing  but  such  a  consistent  sys- 
tem as  the  present  work  endeavours  to  develope  can  satisfy  and  fill.  As  w-as 
to  be  expected,  the  amiable  and  learned  autijor,  whose  sudden  loss  to  the 
church  of  which  he  was  so  decided  an  ornament  I  sincerely  unite  with  her  in 
lamenting,  does  not  attempt  to  free  the  system  of  spiritual  interpretation  from 
those  incumbrances  and  inconsistencies,  with  which,  as  has  been  noticed  in 
our  Lectures  above,  it  has  in  modern  ages  been  crippled.  But  the  reason  evi- 
dently is,  because  he  had  not  found  in  the  writers  on  Scripture-interpretation 
whom  he  had  examined,  any  Rule  of  uniform  and  universal  application.  Had 
such  a  regular  system  been  presented  to  him,  it  appears  reasonable  to  infer, 
from  the  affirmative  sentiments  with  which  his  mind  was  so  strongly  imbued 
on  the  general  question,  that  he  would  have  accepted  it  with  joy  ;  and  there- 
fore, beside  the  general  grounds  for  regretting  his  premature  removal,!  cannot 
but  think  that  I  have  a  personal  one  also,  and  that  the  present  work  has  lost 
by  the  dispensation,  not  only  a  well  qualified  and  candid,  but,  in  addition,  a 
favourable  judge. 

Mr.  Conybeare  (who  was  brother  to  the  gentleman  from  whose  valuable 
writings  on  Geology  an  extract  or  two  are  taken  in  our  Lecture  above,*)  de- 
scribes his  work  as  "  An  attempt  to  trace  the  history,  and  to  ascertain  the  li- 
mits, of  the  Secondary  and  Spiritual  Interpretation  of  Scripture  ;"  and  the  ar- 
gument of  the  whole  is  precisely  the  same,  though  in  a  form  so  much  more 
extended,  as  that  of  the  third  Section  of  our  second  Lecture.  Had  not  our 
work  been  so  enlarged  as  almost  to  render  the  single  volume  to  which  it  is 
necessarily,  by  its  original  plan,  confined,  a  book  of  inconvenient  bulk,  I  should 
have  deemed  it  advisable, — for  certainly  it  would  materially  promote  my  own 
design, — to  examine  these  Bampton  Lectures  at  a  length  proportioned  to  their 
importance  and  interest :  as  it  is,  I  must  confine  my  notice  of  them  to  a  few 
quotations  and  some  brief  remarks.  Not  to  notice  them  <at  all  would  be  doing 
equal  injustice  to  my  readers  and  myself 

The  first  Lecture,  after  proposing  the  design  of  the  work,  is  chiefly  occupied 
with  argimients  on  the  reasonableness  and  necessity  of  admitting  the  Scriptures 
to  contain,  in  general,  a  spiritual  sense,  and  against  the  low  principles  of  Scrip- 
ture-interpretation which  have  become  general  on  the  continent. 

In  the  following  passage  the  author  advances  several  of  the  principles  which 
we  have  endeavoured  to  establish  in  this  work  :  "  However  we  may  scruple 
(as  many  in  the  fair  and  legitimate  exercise  of  private  judgment  doubtless  will 
scruple)  to  follow  the  more  learned  and  eminent  of  these  [the  authors  who 
have  enumerated  several  divisions  and  varieties  of  the  spiritual  sense]  to  the 
full  extent  of  their  respective  theories  ;  yet,  that  such  a  secondary  and  spiritual 
meaning  was,  from  the  earliest  period,  partially  at  least,  involved  in  the  tradi- 
tional and  written  monuments  of  the  Jewish  faith,  cannot,  we  hold,  be  fairly 
and  successfully  denied  ;  cannot  even  be  doubted  by  any  one  who,  with  a  belief 
in  their  inspiration,  and  an  unprejudiced  and  impartial  frame  of  mind,  applies 

*  P.  389,  :m. 


No.  vm.  APPENDIX.  Ixiii 

himself  to  the  study  of  the  books  of  Moses.     Nor  can  tliis  position  be  reason- 
ably objected  to  a  priori  as  appearing  unnatural  or  improbable  ;  for  in   the 
earlier  and  simpler  stages  of  society  and  language,  such  a  mode  of  giving  ut- 
terance to  the  conceptions  of  mind,  so  fiir  from  seeming  rare  and  unintelligi- 
ble, is  known  to  have  been  usually  more  prevalent  and  popular.*     The  ori"i- 
nal  signification  of  those  metaphors,  which  make  up  so  large  a  part  of  all  lan- 
guage both  spoken  and  written,  must  then  have  been  fresher  in  the  memory  of 
man ;  they  were  daily,  if  we  may  so  express  ourselves,  in  the  process  of  being 
increased  in  their  number,  and  extended  and  modified  in  their  import,  as  the 
occurrence  of  new  ide<as  or  new  associations  demanded.     The  mind  habituat- 
ed to  this  process  would  catch  and  retain,  with  quite  sufiicient  rapidity  and 
distinctness,  the  truths  and  instructions  conveyed  through  the  medium  of  those 
images  and  allegories,  which  in  fact  do  so  largely  and  constantly  present  them- 
selves in  the   literature,  both  sacred  and  profane,  of  the  ruder  ages.t     It  may 
be  added,  that  the  wisdom  and  theology  of  the  Egyptians,  to   whose  customs 
the  Israelites  had  been  so  long  inured,  appear,  from  the  remotest  antiquity  to 
which  we  can  trace  them,  to  have  been  involved  in  figurative  and  mystical 
representations.     The  whole  hieroglyphical  system  must  have  been  little  else 
than  a  tissue  of  metaphor  and  allegory  addressed  to  the  eye  instead  of  the  ear.J 
These  considerations  might  well  lead  us  to  suspect,  that  even  they  whom  we 
regard  as  having  needlessly  and  fancifiilly  assumed  or  exaggerated  the  mysti- 
cal sense  of  many  parts  of  the  Mosaic  record,  are  at  least  not  more  unphiloso- 
phical  than  they  who  utterly  proscribe  every  interpretation  of  the  kind,  how- 
ever sanctioned   by  the  authority  of  the  New  Testament,  or  countenanced  by 
fair  and  reasonable  analogies."  § 

The  length  of  tmie  during  which  this  doctrine  was  that  of  the  Christian 
Church  universal,  is  brought  down  by  Mr.  C.  later  than  by  me ;  for  he  says, 
"  The  truth  and  reasonableness  of  this  view  of  the  Mosaic  records  has  been 
acknowledged,  until  within  the  last  half  century,  by  the  whole,  or  nearly  the 
whole,  of  the  Christian  Church. "|| 

He  quotes  and  adopts,  with  unreser^'ed  commendation,  a  sentiment  of-  the 
learned  Spencer,"  in  which  "  he  acknowledges  unhesitatingly  the  distinction 
between  the '  Scriptura  exterior  cujus  sensus  minime  difficilis  se  cuivis  offert,' 
and  the  '  Scriptura  interior /f^<.s  vdrabiiia  continens,  quas  ut  planius  et  aper- 
tius  intueatur  psalmista  oculos  retectos  expetit.'  "11 

I  might  add  some  powerful  reasoning  of  our  author  in  confirmation  of  his  as- 
sertion, that  "  we  not  only  find  that  oin-  Lord  and  his  followers  themselves  aA 
fixed  a  secondary  and  more  exalted  sense  to  many  passages  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, but  that  they  argue  as  though  such  a  principle  of  interpretation  were  ac- 
knowledged as  legitimate  :"**  but  I  will  only  take  further,  from  the  first  Lec- 
ture, some  remarks  which  arc  exactly  coincident  with  some  of  my  own,  res- 
pecting those  Christian  teachers  who  would  reject  the  spiritual  sense  of  the 
Scriptures  altogether.  "  VV^e  may  grant,"  says  Mr.  C,  "  somewhat  to  the  in- 
fluence of  outward  circumstances,  somewhat  more  perhaps  to  the  alleged,  and, 

*  See  our  Lect.  III.  p.  118,  &c.  and  p.  131,  &c.  f  See  our  Lect.  VI.  p. 

393,  &c.  and  p.  396,  &c.  %  See  our  Lect.  HI.  p.  149,  &c.  §  P.   13  to  16. 

II  P.  19.      S«e  our   Lecture    II.   p.  63.  IT  P.  20.     Sot;  our  Lect.  II.    p.  19. 

♦^  P.  %i.     See   our  Lect.  II.  .51,  &c.  and   p.  56,  &c. 


Ixiv  APPENDIX.  NO.  VIII. 

we  hope,  sincere  desire  of  conciliating  the  open  adversaries  of  our  faith  ;*  a 
conciliation  however  seldom  effected,  and  certainly  not  worth  the  purchasing, 
by  the  surrender  of  nearly  all  that  distinguishes  the  Gospel  from  the  mere  phi- 
losophical creed  of  the  deist  ;t  but  where  we  are  told,  in  a  voice  purporting  to 
be  that  of  all  the  reasonable  divines  of  protestant  Europe,  that  every  type, 
every  prophecy,  every  adumbration  of  the  Messiah's  work  and  kingdom,  to 
which  we  have  been  accustomed  to  look  for  the  confirming  our  faith  and  the 
invigorating  our  devotion,  is  to  be  at  once  and  entirely  discarded,  as  matter  of 
nothing  better  than  Jewish  superstition  ;  where  we  see  this  rejection  of  all 
spiritual  interpretation  coupled  with  an  undisguised  anxiety  to  divest  even  the 
historical  relations  of  Scripture  of  every  thing  exceeding  human  powers  and 
attainments,:}:  we  are  assuredly  tempted  for  the  moment  to  inquire.  Can  these 
men  be  Christians  ?"§ 

He  afterwards  shews  that  it  is  an  unfounded  error  to  suppose,  as  some  would 
have  us,  that  the  spiritual  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  introduced  into 
Christianity  from  its  foundation,  originated  with,  or  even  prevailed  among,  the 
Pharisees,  or  that  it  was  borrowed  from  them  or  the  other  Jews. 

The  design  of  the  six  next  Lectures  is  to  evince,  that  the  principles  which 
thus  appear  evidently  proposed  to  us  upon  the  face  of  the  Scriptures  themselves, 
have  accordingly  been  assumed  and  acted  upon  by  the  whole  body  of  inter- 
preters of  Scripture  till  within  a  very  recent  period  ;  in  reference  to  which  fact 
he  observes,  "  It  is  both  useful  and  gratifying  to  find,  that  those  opinions  which 
we  believe  to  be  grounded  on  the  firm  warranty  of  Scripture  and  of  reason, 
have  received  the  support  of  the  wise  and  the  pious  in  former  ages."||  Here 
then  they  who  may  wish  to  see  a  more  detailed  and  complete  examination  of 
this  important  point  than  could  be  afforded  by  the  brief  and  popular  view  given 
in  our  second  Lecture, H  will  find  ample  satisfaction  :  but  the  two  accounts  dif- 
fer in  nothing  but  their  length  and  form  ;  in  their  tenor  and  conclusions  they 
exactly  coincide. 

Having  in  his  second  Lecture  remarked  upon  the  traces  of  this  mode  of  in- 
terpretation which  are  found  in  the  Apocryphal  books  of  the  Old  Testament, 
and  upon  the  manner  in  which  it  was  cultivated  by  the  Judaic  school  of  phi- 
losophy at  Alexandria,  and  especially  by  the  celebrated  Philo  ;  Mr.  C.  com- 
mences his  third  Lecture  with  these  important  remarks :  "  In  the  two  former 
Lectures  it  was  endeavoured  to  shew,  that  there  were  reasonable  grounds  for 
attaching  a  secondary  and  spiritual  sense  to  much  of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  ; 
and  that  such  was,  as  far  as  we  have  the  opportunity  of  ascertaining  matters 
of  this  nature,  the  opinion,  if  not  of  the  whole  Jewish  church,  yet  certainly  of 
many  among  its  most  learned  and  pious  members.  That  the  practice  of  such 
interpretation  was  carried  by  some  to  an  unwarrantable  excess,**  affords  no 
proof  that  it  was  not  originally  founded  upon  just  conceptions  of  the  character 
of  the  older  Revelation,  or  that  it  is  repugnant  to  the  wise  and  benevolent  in- 
tentions of  Him  b}'  whom  all  Scripture  was  given,  and  to  whom  icere  knoion  all 
his  works  from  the  beginning.     The  course  of  our  inquiry  has  now  brought 

*  See  our   Lect.  I.  p.  7,  &c.       Lect.  IL  p.  33  and  40.  t    See  our   Lect.  L 

p.  9,  10.  t  See  our  Lect.  I.  p.  8,  9.  §  P.  30,  3L  II  P.  IL  IT  Sec. 

lii.  §  4,  p.  90,  &c.         *»  See  our  Lect.  H.  p.  67  «nd  70;  Lect.  III.  p.  90,  yi. 


NO.   Vril.  APPENDIX.  liV 

MS  to  that  period,  at  which  tlie  preaching  of  a  new  and  more  perfect  dispensa- 
tion was  committed  by  its  divine  Author  to  the  apostles  and  ministers  of  hi* 
choice ;  committed  witli  the  express  assurance,  and  conlirmed  and  sanctioned 
by  the  conscious  and  sensible  presence  of  his  informing  Spirit.  If  we  beUeva 
them  to  have  spoken  and  written  under  the  guidance  of  that  Spirit,  to  hav» 
been  led  (as  it  was  promised)  into  all  truth  ;  if  we  hold  upon  any  theory  the 
proper  inspiration  of  that  which  tliov  delivered  ;  I  do  not  see  witii  what  con- 
sistency we  can  refuse  (as  some  would  do)  to  acquiesge  in  their  interpretation 
of  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament.  That  to  the.se  Scriptures  they  do  aiBi 
a  secondary  and  spiritual  meaning,  and  that  they  refer  to  them  with  this  view, 
not  merely  in  a  few  partial  and  dubious  instances,  but  repeatedly,  and  with  a 
distinctness  only  to  be  questioned  by  the  most  determined  prejudice,  seems 
equally  clear.*  If  indeed  with  one  school  we  are  to  deny  the  existence  of  ail 
types  and  prefiguratious  of  the  Messiah  and  his  kingdom,  and  to  contend  that 
where  the  Law  is  said  to  have  had  a  shadow  of  the  good  things  to  come,  no 
more  is  meant  than  that  in  comparison  with  the  gospel  it  was  as  valueless  as  a 
shadow  when  compared  to  a  substance  ;t  we  would  answer,  that  such  a  tiieorj 
claims  for  plain  and  specific  language  a  much  greater  laxity  and  licence  of  in- 
terpretation than  any  which  it  objects  to.  If  with  others};  we  attempt  to  re- 
solve the  whole  into  one  system  of  accommodation,  we  certainly  do  not  a  littla 
shake  the  credibility  of  those  witnesses  who  could  rest  so  much  upon  so  sandy 
a  foundation.  But  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament  in  no  place  appear  either 
to  confess  or  to  suspect  that  the  secondary  or  allegorical  sense,  which  they  at- 
tach to  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  are  [is]  thus  arbitrary  and  unreal.  That 
we  are  content  to  regard  some  few  instances  of  obscure  application  as  thus  ao- 
commodated,  (and  the  lists  usually  given  of  such  accommodations  might  in- 
deed be  much  reduced,)  does  not,  any  more  than  the  exceptions  in  varioae 
other  cases,  invalidate  the  general  rule." 

On  this  subject  the  author  introduces  this  highly  judicious  remark  :  "  And 
Irere  I  would  venture  even  to  submit,  whether,  as  we  consent,  both  from  their 
own  internal  evidence  and  from  the  acknowledged  inspiration  of  Those  who 
adduce  them,  to  receive  the  great  bulk  of  the  Scriptural  quotations  so  addur.-:>d 
m  the  New  Testament  as  truly  and  originally  typical  and  prophetical,  it  may 
not  be  the  part  of  Christian  humility  and  sober  criticism  rather  to  suspend  the 
judgment  as  to  those  few  which  present  real  difficulties,  than  to  attempt  the 
accounting  for  or  reconciling  them  by  any  hypothesis  of  accommodation,  or 
partial  and  individual  application  ;  by  conceding  that  they  are  no  more  than 
ornaments  of  diction,  or  at  best  argmneyita  ad  kominem."  ^  The  most  difficult 
of  the  supposed  accommodutions  arc  a  quotation  or  two  in  Matthew's  Gospel , 
but  from  these  all  difficulty  would  vanish,  if  we  understood  the  spiritual  senae 
of  both  the  records. 

The  preceding  remarks  relate  to  the  Old  Testament  ;  but  our  author 
equally  contends  tor   the  spiritual   sense   of  part,  at  least,  of  the  New.     "  It 

*  Sec  our  Lect.  II.  p.  56,  &c.  and  Appendix,  No.  I.  ^f  "  This  is  the  hypo- 
thesis of  Sykes  in  his  answer  to  Collins."  %  "  This  hypothesis  the  thoolot^iaus 
cf modern  Germany  have  derived  cliiefly  from  tiie  school  of  Le  Clero."'  §  P  Ti 
Ml  80. 

i 


Ixvi  APPENDIX.  NO.   VIII, 

cannot,"  lie  observes,  '•  be  denied  or  questioned,  that  even  in  the  records  of 
the  new  covenant,  the  things  which  concern  the  renewal  of  the  inner  man, 
and  the  salvation  of  the  believer,  are  in  more  than  one  case  shadowed  out  to 
us  under  types  and  analogies,  which,  if  we  accept  the  testimony  of  those  re- 
cords, we  are  not  only  authorized  but  bound  to  understand  and  to  apply  spi- 
ritually. To  pass  over  much  of  that  part  of  oui-  Lord's  teaching  which  was 
confessedly  in  parables  ;  if  we  allow  that  there  be  any  spiritual  grace  con- 
nected with  the  right  usage  and  reception  of  the  Christian  sacraments,  we 
must  admit  their  outward  elements  to  be  the  certain  and  pre-ordained  symbola 
of  that  grace,  and  of  the  means  whereby  it  is  conveyed  to  us  :  we  must  (be  it 
spoken  with  reverence  and  faith)  admit  the  material  body  and  blood  of  our 
glorious  Redeemer  himself  to  be  typical  of  that  spiritual  food  whereby  the 
inward  life  of  the  believer's  soul,  that  life  which,  as  we  are  expressly  told,  is 
hidden  loith  Christ  in  God,  is  produced  and  supported.*"  When  the  apostle 
urges,  (in  which  our  church  has  well  and  wisely  followed  him,)  that  as  our 
Saviour  died  and  rose  again  for  us,  so  should  we  who  are  buried  with  him  in 
baptism  die  unto  sin  and  rise  again  unto  righteousness  ;  when  he  expressly 
exhorts  the  believers  as  tJiosc  icho  are  risen  icith  Christ  ;  we  cannot  deny  that 
he  sees  in  the  history  of  thus  much  at  least  of  his  Master's  life  a  spiritual  as 
well  as  a  literal  import.  The  luxuriance  of  human  ingenuity  may  indeed,  as 
it  has  often  done,  push  its  imitation  of  these  mysterious  analogies  much  too 
far  ;  the  pride  of  scepticism  may  refuse  to  be  taught  at  all  after  this  manner, 
and  its  votary  may  question  the  inspiration  of  those  Scriptures  which  would 
thus  teach  him  :  but  neither  the  abuses  of  the  one  nor  the  perverseness  of  the 
other  can  invalidate  the  truth  of  the  general  position,  that  the  New  Testament 
does  not  only  assert  the  secondary  and  spiritual  meaning  of  much  that  is  con- 
tained in  the  Old,  but  authorizes  and  strengthens  the  legitimacy  of  such 
interpretation  by  affixing  the  like  to  portions  also  of  its  own  contents."! 

These  extracts  are  quite  suflicient  to  shew,  how  decided  is  the  support 
which  Mr.  C.'s  work  lends  to  the  doctrine  of  the  spiritual  interpretation  of 
Scripture.  If  it  is  thus  certain,  that  "  portions,"  at  least,  of  the  productions 
of  Inspiration  possess  a  spiritual  sense,  it  is  equally  certain  that  they  possess 
it  universally  ;  as  has,  I  apprehend,  been  fully  proved  in  our  Lectures  above. ^ 
One  position  being  granted,  the  other  follows  of  course.  It  is  most  true,  as 
our  author  remarks,  that  if  "  the  practice  of  such  interpretation  was  carried 
by  some  to  an  unwarrantable  excess,  this  affords  no  proof  that  it  was  not 
originally  founded  upon  just  conceptions  of  the  character  of  revelation,  or  that 
it  is  repugnant  to  the  intentions  of  Him  by  whom  all  Scripture  was  given  :" 
but  in  what  consists  this  excess .'  Not  in  applying  it  universally,  but  without  a 
just  knowledge  of  its  nature  :  not  in  drawing  from  every  part  of  Scripture  a 
spiritual  sense,  but  in  deducing  from  it,  under  the  name  of  the  spiritual  sense, 
notions  of  mere  human  invention  ;  or  rather,  in  inventing  such  notions  and 
f  ndeavouring  to  force  them  into  the  Scriptures.  It  is  thus  that  "  the  luxu- 
riance of  human  ingenuity  may  indeed,  as  it  often  has  done,  push  its  imitation 
1 \ 

*  See  our  Lect.  V.  p.  371  to  373.  t  P-  82,  S3.  %  See  our  Lect.  IV.  p. 

172,  173,  201.  205.     Lect.  V.  p.  274  to  27S. 


>fo.  VIII.  APPENDIX.  Ixvii 

of  these  mysterious  analogies  much  too  far  ;"  being  ignorant  of  tho  real 
analogies,  it  substitutes  for  them  some  of  its  own  :  but  this  no  more  proves 
that  the  abused  passages  have  no  spiritual  analogies  properly  belonging  to 
them,  than  the  personation  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  Edward  Plantagenet,  by 
Lambert  Simnel,  proved  that  no  such  Earl  of  Warwick  existed.  Hence  no 
negative  conclusion  can  be  drawn  against  the  affirmative  principle  thus  estab- 
lished, from  the  circumstance,  that  when  Mr.  C,  after  having  in  the  six  inter- 
mediate Lectures  traced  the  history  of  spiritual  interpretation,  and  shewn  that 
it  was,  for  many  ages,  universally  admitted  to  be  of  universal  application, 
and  never  entirely  denied  till  within  a  very  recent  period,  comes,  in  his  la.st 
Lecture,  to  attempt  to  ascertain  its  limits,  he  exhibits  some  doubt  and  vacilla- 
tion ;  for  doubt  and  vacillation  must,  as  has  been  shewn  in  our  Lectures 
above,*  ever  attend  on  the  expositor,  who,  while  he  admits  the  principle  at  all, 
is  [deterred  from  accepting  it  as  universal,  by  the  extravagances  into  which 
some  have  run,  who  have  been  guided,  in  their  endeavours  to  decipher  it,  by 
no  more  certain  clew  than  fancy  or  conjecture.  This  is  evidently  the  origin 
of  Mr.  C.'s  attempted  limitations  ;  and  thus,  instead  of  proving  the  non-uni- 
versality of  the  spiritual  sense,  they  only  prove  the  want  and  necessity  of  such 
a  universal  rule  for  its  developement  as  we  have  endeavoured  to  present  in 
this  work.  Many  of  the  expositions  which  he  details,  as  samples  of  the  spi- 
ritual mode  of  interpretation  as  practised  in  different  ages,  are  certainly  suffi- 
ciently capricious  and  nnfounded  :  and  though  he  gives  some  which  he  ac- 
knowledges to  be  striking  and  beautifid,  and  others  which  he  objects  to  only 
because  the  letter  is  plain  and  intelligible  without  them  ;  (a  strange  objection, 
by  the  by,  to  follow  the  admission,  respecting  the  plain  and  intelligible  history 
of  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Jesus,  that  "  thus  much  at  least  of  his  life 
had  a  spiritual  as  well  as  literal  import  ;")  yet  it  seems  as  if  the  wading 
through  so  immense  a  chaos  of  contradiction  and  confusion  as  he  was  com- 
pelled to  examine  to  obtain  the  materials  for  this  learned  part  of  his  work,  had 
had  rather  an  unfavourable  effect  upon  his  judgment,  and  had  scarcely  left  it 
proof  against  the  effects  of  unavoidable  disgust.  His  mind  was  evidently  in  a 
state  here  of  great  indecision.  The  doctrine  of  a  spiritual  sense,  so  long  as  it 
is  supposed,  if  it  exists  at  all,  to  be  the  consequence  of  arbitrary  appointrneni, 
is  attended  with  difficulty  ;]  but  when  it  is  seen,  as  we  have  endeavoured  to 
evince  is  the  fact,  to  be  the  result  of  an  immutable  law  of  nature,  and  abso- 
lutely essential  to,  and  inseparable  from,  the  truly  divine  style  of  writing  ;t  all 
difficulty  disappears.  Then  its  universal  becomes  far  more  defensible  than  its 
partial  existence.  Not  even  '•  the  pride  of  scepticism"'  can  then  allege  a  plau- 
sible argument  against  it,  or  for  "  refusing  to  be  taught  after  this  manner  ;" 
and  the  votary  of  scepticism,  instead  of  drawing  from  it  a  plea  for  "  question- 
ing the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  which  would  thus  teach  him,"  may  find 
in  it  a  proof  demonstrative  of  their  divinity. §     I  cannot,  then,  but  believe, 

*  P.  274  to  27S.     See  particularly  the  Note  p.  278  to  28L 

+  See  our  Lect.  IL  p.  77.  ^  See  our  Lecture  IV.  p.  157  to  166. 

§  Mr.  C.  frequently  cites   the  judicious  canon  of  the  early  fathers,  "  Argument 

turn  mysticum  non  valet  ad  probanda  fidei  dogmata,"    which   affirms  the  same  prin- 

eiple  as  we  have  urged  in  our  second    Lecture,  p.  79,  SO  .    but   he    surely    extend* 


IxviiL  APPENDIX.  NO.  vnr. 

that  had  thia  view  of  the  subject  been  presented  to  Mr.  C,  he  would  hav<5 
accepted  it  with  eagerness  :  for  he  certainly  rather  considered  it  impracticable, 
upon  any  principles  with  which  his  researches  had  brought  him  acquainted,  to 
discover  the  true  spiritual  sense  of  the  Scriptures,  except  where  it  is  pointed 
out  by  the  apostles,  than  actually  denied  its  universal  existence.  I  would  fain 
examine  several  of  his  positions,  but  my  limits  forbid.  While  he  viewed  the 
subject  as  being  as  yet  enveloped  in  much  obscurity,  he  evidently  anticipated 
that  the  darkness  would  not  be  suffered  to  endure  for  ever.*  He  decidedly 
admits  the  Word  of  God  to  be  still  in  a  great  measure  a  sealed  book  :  but  he 
doubtless  believed  the  prophecies  which  announce  that  this  darkness  shall 
have  an  end  :  that  the  time  will  couie  in  which  he  who  is  the  Word  will 
open  more  of  the  contents  of  the  written  Word  to  his  church ;  in  which  it 
shall  be  said,  "  The  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  hath  prevailed  to  open  the 
book,  and  to  loose  the  seven  seals  thereof." 

Altogether,  the  appearance  of  such  a  work  at  tlie  present  juncture,  from  such 
a  quarter,  is  not  a  little  extraordinary.  I  have  touched  in  these  Lectures,  and 
Mr.  C  also  dwells  in  his,  upon  the  prevalence,  in  the  present  day,  not  only  of 
absolute  infidelity,  but  of  low  and  unwortiiy  ideas  of  the  Scriptures  among 
those  who  still  profess  to  accept  them  as  the  sources  of  true  religion  ;  ideas 
which  not  only  reign  almost  universally  on  the  continent,  but  have  spread 
their  contagion  in  this  country  to  a  greater  extent  than  Mr.  C.  might  deem 
it  prudent  to  notice.  The  influence  of  such  sentiments  is  evideiitly  rapidly 
increasing.  According  to  appearance,  the  bulk  of  the  Christian  public  is  fast 
verging  into  such  notions  of  the  Divine  Word,  as  differ  from  open  infidelity  in 
little  but  in  name.  In  such  a  state  of  things,  are  we  to  regard  Mr.  C  's  publi- 
cation as  a  warning  voice,  raised,  but  raised  in  vain,  to  check  the  spreading 
desolation  .'  as  the  lust  remonstrance,  in  the  Anglican  Church,  of  expiring 
Truth  .'  as  a  nmnitory  beacon,  to  gleam  but  for  a  moment,  "  ere  universal 
darkness  bury  all  .•"'  Or  may  we  hail  it  as  the  real  harbinger  of  returning 
day  ?  as  the  symptom  of  a  new  order  oC  intelligence  arising  in  the  Christian 
mind  of  this  country  ■  as  indicative  of  a  state  of  preparation  commencing 
among  British  Christians  for  the  reception  of  just  views  of  the  Word  of  God, — 
for  the  diffusion  among  them  of  the  genuine  light  of  that  Word  .'  Faxit  Dens ! 

it  too  far,  when  he  seems  to  infer,  that  no  argument  can  be  drawn  from  the  spiritual 
sense  in  proof  of  the  inspiration  of  the  >Scriptures.  To  prove  by  the  spiritual  sense 
a  specific  doctrine,  is  quite  a  different  thing  from  proving,  from  the  literal  sense, 
and  from  rational  and  scientific  considerations,  that  there  rrmst  be  a  spiritual 
sense  within,  and  that,  if  so,  objections  drawn  from  the  letter  not  understood  are 
invalid.  Mr.  C.  makes  his  remark,  (p.  .316,  note  n,)  in  reference  to  a  work,  dedi- 
cated to  the  Sceptic,  entitled  "  An  Analytical  View  of  Christianity  :"  How  far  that 
work  may  seem  to  provoke  such  an  observation,  I  cannot  say,  having  never  seen  it. 
*  "  All,"  he  observes,  (p.  2,  3,)  "  who  profess  to  accept  and  to  search  the 
Scriptures  as  the  record  and  testimony  of  God,  (without  the  exception  even  of 
those  whom  we  regard,  not  perhaps  unjustly,  as  leaning  to  the  side  of  error  and 
snthusiasm,)  do  uniformly  admit  that  a  partial,  though  not  always  an  impenotrabis 
•loud,  yet  rssts  upon  the  sanctuary  of  divine  truth." 

THE   END. 


f mN  ' 


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